Search for the Magnetic Pole in Antarctica

The magnetic field of the Earth and the location of the magnetic poles were of great interest to the seafaring nations of the nineteenth century because the magnetic compass was used to steer ships across the oceans that contained few points of reference. For this reason, several Antarctic explorers of the nineteenth century attempted to map the magnetic field of the Earth and to determine the position of the magnetic pole in Antarctica (e.g., Dumont d Urville and Charles Wilkes). 

The magnetic field of the Earth was also much on the mind of James Clark Ross (1800-1862) a British naval officer who had participated in and led several exploratory voyages and dogsled expeditions in the Arctic between 1818 and 1831 searching for the elusive Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. On May 31, 1831, James Ross in Fig. 1.5 reached the magnetic pole in the Arctic at 70°05 N and 096°46 W. In 1904 Roald Amundsen relocated the pole at 70°30 N and 095°30 W. Still later, in 1947, a Canadian scientific expedition placed the magnetic pole at a spot north of Prince of Wales Island at 73°N and 100°W. The present position of the pole is at 77°18 N and 101°48 W (Emiliani 1992, p. 228). 

Evidently, the magnetic pole of the Arctic moves and is not coincident with the geographic North Pole of the Earth. These observations are one of the points of departure for the on-going research to understand 

In 1839, Captain James Ross was appointed to lead the British Naval Expedition (1839-1843) to Antarctica. His assignment was to penetrate the pack ice with his two small ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and to reach the magnetic pole. Ross and his associate, F.M.R. Crozier who commanded HMS Terror, set sail on September 30, 1839 and arrived in Hobart, Tasmania in early 1840. After visiting Sir John Franklin, who was the Governor of Tasmania, Ross and Crozier started their voyage to Antarctica on November 13, 1840. Their ships were well stocked with provisions and were staffed with volunteers on 

On January 24, 1841, these explorers also discovered an island at 78°S and 168°E located off the coast of Victoria Land. The latitude of this island exceeded the most southern position reached by James Weddell, which Ross and Crozier celebrated by issuing double rations of rum to their crews. Ross named the two volcanoes on the island after his ships Erebus and Terror and the island itself is known to us as Ross Island. Captain Crozier s name identifies a prominent peninsula on Ross Island where the famous rookery of Emperor Penguins is located. 

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