Shifting magnetic poles result in Tampa airport runway overhaul
Tampa International Airport has had to close its main runway for about a week because the compass directions painted on their main runway need to be changed.
The magnetic north pole, which is in the Canadian Arctic, is moving at the rate of 40 miles a year toward Russia. As a result, the compass headings on airport runways eventually do not represent the correct direction and the new compass directions are painted over the old ones.
Some people who think the shifting of the magnetic poles represents the end of the world associated with the upcoming end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012.
The movement of iron in the molten earth’s core causes the shift of the earth’s magnetic poles. This has been going on long into our past. Because of the changes in the earth’s magnetic poles, airports regularly change the compass headings painted on their runways.
