The Earth has two north poles. The first is magnetic and the compass needle points to it. If you let it guide you, it will lead you to the spot where the compass goes “crazy” and starts pointing in all directions. Here, the field lines of the Earth’s magnetic field dive underground, which confuses the compass when it’s horizontal. The position of the magnetic pole changes. It moves across the Earth’s surface at a rate of about 55 kilometres per year. In 2024, it was located at 86 degrees North, 142 degrees East, moving slowly from Canada towards Russia. What’s more, the magnetic pole is also moving during the day, when charged particles from the Sun have an effect on it. Its diurnal motion involves rotation in an ellipse tens of kilometres in size.

The second North Pole is the one that all Arctic polar expeditions have tried to reach. It’s the point where the Earth’s imaginary axis protrudes onto the surface. The point around which the whole Earth rotates. On GPS coordinates you would see it as 90° North latitude and without any longitude, because all the longitudinal lines converge here. The Earth’s axis also wobbles slightly, and because of this, the geographic North Pole moves across the Earth’s surface.

As if these inaccuracies weren’t enough, the North Pole lies not on land, but in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. It is covered by a thick layer of ice, which is moving constantly, drifting. If one day you identify the North Pole and plant a flag at its location, tomorrow the flag will no longer be at the North Pole because the drift of the sea ice will take it aside.

With the help of a precise GPS, it is possible to determine if we are standing exactly at the North Pole right now. Without modern electronics, which the first expeditions to the North Pole did not have, the situation is much more difficult.

A magnetic compass doesn’t help you much because it points in a completely different direction. It can be used as an aid when getting closer if you know which direction it should be from you and the geographic pole. You can also determine how far away the magnetic pole is from you from the inclination, or slope, of the magnetic field lines, which again helps you in finding the geographic pole. You just need to know the exact current position of the magnetic pole.

Then all you have left in the land of snow and ice are the celestial bodies and their height above the horizon. The orientation of the Earth’s axis to the distant stars is constant. Of these, Polaris is the most useful because the Earth’s axis points almost directly towards it. It has been used by ancient mariners. At the North Pole, Polaris is directly overhead and makes tiny circles on the sky. If we measure how many degrees the Polaris is above the horizon, we can also find out what latitude we are at. For example, at 50 latitude, the Polaris is 50 degrees above the horizon.

The only problem with sextant measurements inland is that you don’t have a true horizon, which is the sea surface of an ocean. Therefore an artificial horizon is used, which is usually a bubble in a tube filled with liquid. Older methods measured the angle between a celestial body and its reflection in the still surface and divided the result by two.

It’s night at the North Pole half the year. Since going on an expedition in complete darkness is not the best idea, expeditions were held during the polar day. During this time, the sun doesn’t dip below the horizon at all. It’s the only source of positional information, because the measurement of the Polaris altitude can’t be used. The sextant could be used in this case. It is usually equipped with filters that allow you to observe the bright solar disk. The problem is that the Sun moves across the sky and is thus in a different place at a different time of day and a different time of year. An expedition cannot do without tables that allow it to recalculate the measurements and an experienced navigator who knows how to do this, as there are many influences and errors to account for. Moreover, the lower the Sun is above the horizon, and it is very low at the pole, the more the measurement errors increase.

In order to successfully determine the position according to the sun, we need to take measurements at noon. An error of a few minutes in determining noon can mean an error of a couple of kilometres. While on solid ground it can’t happen that a camp shifts during a week-long storm. Near the North Pole, it is a common occurrence. A camp built on drifting ice will change its position and thus shift the local noon time. Determining without GPS whether we are finally standing at the North Pole is therefore very challenging.

The North Pole was first reached by Robert Peary and Frederick Cook. For many years, however, there were disputes as to whether they actually reached the geographic pole and how accurately. The main evidence in their dispute was the records of latitude and longitude measurements. In the end, Peary was declared the conqueror, who stood at the pole on April 6, 1909.