Poles Shift: Tampa remaps runway

[Deleted]

www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/06/magnetic-north-pole-shifts-forces-closure-florida-airport/?test=latestnews

Don't know exactly which category this falls under, but there's been talk of the poles making a major shift for a while now. What kind of ripples would the world feel? If Tampa needs to remap a few of their runways wouldn't that mean that a lot more would need to be remapped throughout the US and world?

[Tennesseer]

Interesting article. Thanks for posting it RG.

As for your question-I don't know.

[floridayankee]

Jan 7, 2011 9:15:26 GMT -5 @rosebaby said:

... but there's been talk of the poles making a major shift for a while now. What kind of ripples would the world feel?

I have read a little about magnetic pole reversal and have found no scientific articles saying a pole shift is instantanious....ie, you won't wake up and see your compass pointing south instead of north. If mentioned at all, most seem to think it takes hundreds to thousands of years for the poles to completely reverse.

Magnetic pole reversal has apparently happened in the past and there is no evidence it plays any part in any sort of mass extinction scenarios either. The larges question mark is around our electrical and electronic devices.

If Tampa needs to remap a few of their runways wouldn't that mean that a lot more would need to be remapped throughout the US and world?

Perhaps. Either way, I'm glad I'm not the one that has to crunch the numbers to come up with mathematical models during such magnetic pole movements.

[handyman2]

Interesting. I have read where scientests have said this has happened over the past thousands of years but this is the first I have seen where it made remapping necessary. I wonder if they will remap MacDill also since it is just south of the Tampa airport.
I have also read where the magnetic north pole is over 100 miles from where it use to be. Don't know if that is fact or fiction.

[billisonboard]

"The poles are generated by movements within the Earth's inner and outer cores, though the exact process isn't exactly understood. They're also constantly in flux, moving a few degrees every year, " From the link in the OP

[floridayankee]

Jan 7, 2011 10:36:24 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

I have also read where the magnetic north pole is over 100 miles from where it use to be. Don't know if that is fact or fiction.

That, I am not sure of. As far as I know, MacDill runway numbers also relate to flight path. So, I would assume the need to renumber depends on the orientation of the runway in relation to the (magnetic) pole movement. I believe MacDill's runway is 40-45 degrees off of TIA's alignment.