© Tampa Bay OnlineRunway changes are needed to account for the moving magnetic pole, which is nearing Russia at 40 miles per year.
Scientists say the magnetic north pole is moving toward Russia and the fallout has reached -- of all places -- Tampa International Airport.
The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth's magnetic north.
The closure of the west parallel runway will result in more activity on the east parallel runway and more noise for residential areas of south Tampa.
The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It's been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south.
Later this month, the airport's east parallel runway and the seldom used east-west runway will be closed to change signage to their new designations.
The Federal Aviation Administration required the runway designation change to account for what a National Geographic News report described as a gradual shift of the Earth's magnetic pole at nearly 40 miles a year toward Russia because of magnetic changes in the core of the planet.
Source: The Tampa Tribune
Just asking: Can anyone tell me that the shift in the North Pole does in no way affect the jet stream which affects the climate around the world? Also, can you tell me about what I read so long ago - that the actual polar poles have been proven to have reversed a few times over the life of the earth, and maybe, how that explains the food found yet in the mouths and stomachs of mastodons (Sp?) in Siberia and the discovery of tropical plants buried far under the Antarctic where they could never have been grown? We would enjoy and learn from an article on the above