How to Use the Geomagnetic Pole Wander 3D Explorer - Step by Step
Open the Geomagnetic Pole Wander 3D Explorer, scrub the year slider from 1831 to 2025 or press "Play history", and click any of the ten amber waypoint markers to jump straight to that year's own recorded or modelled position.
Scrub or play through history
Drag the year slider to jump straight to any year between 1831 and 2025, or press "Play history" to step the bright marker forward through the whole record automatically - watch it trace the glowing path across the Arctic from Canada toward Siberia.
Click a waypoint marker
Click any of the ten amber dots on the globe to jump the slider straight to that year and read its own real position and source in the facts panel - a ground survey, an early explorer's observation, or a modern WMM/IGRF model.
Read the facts panel
The panel states the current year's position (or, between two waypoints, that it is a shortest-arc interpolation), the drift speed published for that period, and the always-visible headline figures: about 2,250 km traveled since 1831, and NOAA's 2025 measurement of 36 km/year for the north pole versus 9 km/year for the south.
Use the regional pins for orientation
The green pin marks the Canadian Arctic side and the orange pin marks the Siberian side of the Arctic - approximate reference points to help you see which way the path is heading, not a precise border.
Drag to orbit and use fullscreen
Drag to orbit the camera, scroll or pinch to zoom, and use the Fullscreen button to expand the whole wrapper for a clearer view.
Next: see when to use this explorer or how it compares to Earth's Magnetosphere 3D Explorer.
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