They note that submarines also circle as they take geomagnetic data.
That circling may have had something to do with getting a good read on an important location, perhaps checking the geomagnetic field, the researchers propose.
Scientists measure the general likelihood of visibility on a scale of zero to nine known as the Kp Index, based on measurement of geomagnetic activity.
So while a shift of geomagnetic poles may be somewhat of a forgotten part of our planet’s history, its impacts are ever present.
In fact, “the general belief had been that geomagnetic changes had no impact on climate or anything else,” says Alan Cooper, an evolutionary biologist at BlueSky Genetics in Adelaide.