Editing Geographical pole (section)

{{short description|Points on a rotating astronomical body where the axis of rotation intersects the surface}}
[[File:Geographical and Magnetic Poles.png|thumb|A geographical axis of rotation A (green), and showing the north geographical pole A1, and south geographical pole A2; also showing a magnetic field and the magnetic axis of rotation B (blue), and the north magnetic pole B1, and south magnetic  pole B2.]]

A '''geographical pole''' or '''geographic pole''' is either of the two points on Earth where its [[axis of rotation]] intersects its surface.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=pole; geographic pole |last1=Kotlyakov |first1=Vladimir |last2=Komarova |first2=Anna |encyclopedia=Elsevier's dictionary of geography : in English, Russian, French, Spanish and German |date=2006 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=9780080488783 |page=557 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DhWw_cYLicC&pg=PA557 |access-date=22 June 2015}}</ref>  The [[North Pole]] lies in the [[Arctic Ocean]] while the [[South Pole]] is in [[Antarctica]]. North and South poles are also defined for other planets or satellites in the [[Solar System]], with a North pole being on the same side of the [[invariable plane]] as Earth's North pole.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Archinal |first1=B. A. |last2=A’Hearn |first2=M. F. |last3=Bowell |first3=E. |last4=Conrad |first4=A. |last5=Consolmagno |first5=G. J. |last6=Courtin |first6=R. |last7=Fukushima |first7=T. |last8=Hestroffer |first8=D. |last9=Hilton |first9=J. L. |last10=Krasinsky |first10=G. A. |last11=Neumann |first11=G. |last12=Oberst |first12=J. |last13=Seidelmann |first13=P. K. |last14=Stooke |first14=P. |last15=Tholen |first15=D. J. |last16=Thomas |first16=P. C. |last17=Williams |first17=I. P. |title=Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements: 2009 |journal=Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy |date=February 2011 |volume=109 |issue=2 |pages=101–135 |doi=10.1007/s10569-010-9320-4|bibcode=2011CeMDA.109..101A |s2cid=189842666 }}</ref>

Relative to Earth's surface, the geographic poles move by a few metres over periods of a few years.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lovett |first=Richard A. |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-has-shifted-location-north-south-poles/ |title=Climate change has shifted the locations of Earth's North and South Poles |publisher=Scientific American |date=14 May 2013 |access-date=6 January 2019}}</ref> This is a combination of [[Chandler wobble]], a free oscillation with a period of about 433 days; an annual motion responding to seasonal movements of air and water masses; and an irregular drift towards the 80th west [[meridian (geography)|meridian]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Polar motion |url=https://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/Science/EarthRotation/PolarMotion.html |website=International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service |publisher=Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy |year=2013 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> As [[cartography]] requires exact and unchanging coordinates, the averaged{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} locations of geographical poles are taken as fixed ''cartographic poles'' and become the points where the body's [[great circle]]s of [[longitude]] intersect.