NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Annual Increase of Variation
From: Richard Pinkowitz
Date: 2002 Feb 12, 07:41 -0500
From: Richard Pinkowitz
Date: 2002 Feb 12, 07:41 -0500
Everyone: What is the cause of the "annual" portion of the magnetic variation on the compass rose? Although this "annual variation" is listed for my area of the US, Massachusetts, as about 1' - 3' this has not been recognized in the "total magnetic variation" in the charts we have used over the past 20 years. At 3' per year we would have seen a 1 degree change in variation over the past 20 years. Is this annual variation in a constant direction or does it oscillate? Answers would be appreciated so that I could respond to the navigation class. Rich Pinkowitz
