British scientists have recorded unusual activity in the high Arctic: the magnetic North Pole is moving towards Russia in a way not seen before.

In the Northern Hemisphere, compass needles point toward the magnetic North Pole, whose location changes due to the changing contours of the Earth’s magnetic field. It differs from the geographic North Pole, or true north, which remains fixed at the place where all lines of longitude meet.

For centuries, the magnetic pole meandered close to the coast of northern Canada. In the 1990s it drifted to the Arctic Ocean. Then the pace picked up and headed for Siberia.

From 1600 to 1990, it is estimated to have moved about six miles per year