Episode 28: Many North Poles

You Can Never Have Just One

Part 1 of Our Mini-Series “Home Planet Happenings”

After a lovely holiday season, Josh and Kara return to talk about Santa’s home—The North Pole! But what many may not know, is that there are in fact, multiple north poles, each with slightly different definitions and uses in the sciences. So join us this week as we explore the many north poles!

Discussion Includes:

  • Geographic Poles

  • Magnetic Poles

  • The Mythical North Pole

  • Explorations of the Poles


©Wolf & Stag Productions LLC, 2026

Images:

All Images Are Used For Commentary, Analysis, and Education Purposes under the Fair Use Act

References:


  • Rees G, Headland R, Scambos T, Haran T. Finding the Arctic pole of inaccessibility. Polar Record. 2014;50(1):86-91. doi:10.1017/S003224741300051X

  • Poles and directions – australian antarctic program. Australian Government – Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Australian Antarctic Division | Australian Antarctic Program. (2020, October 27). https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/geography-and-geology/geography/poles-and-directions/ 

  • The magnificent nine. an overview of the Earth’s famous and not-so-famous poles. Strona główna - Edu Arctic. (n.d.). https://edu-arctic.pl/en/articles/the-magnificent-nine-an-overview-of-the-earth-s-famous-and-not-so-famous-poles 

  • Eratosthenes measures earth | american physical society. (n.d.). https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2006/06/eratosthenes-measures-earth 

  • A&E Television Networks. (2025, December 3). Roald Amundsen becomes first explorer to reach the South Pole | December 14, 1911. History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-14/amundsen-reaches-south-pole 

  • The race to the South Pole: Scott and Amundsen. Royal Museums Greenwich. (n.d.). https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/race-south-pole-scott-amundsen 

  • By Olav Bjaaland (1863-1961)[1] - Amundsen, Roald: The South Pole (Vol II), London, John Murray 1912, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16210076

  • A&E Television Networks. (2025a, May 28). Northwest Passage. History.com. https://www.history.com/articles/northwest-passage 

  • National Geographic Reverses, agrees adm. Peary missed North Pole - The Washington Post. (n.d.-b). https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/09/18/national-geographic-reverses-agrees-adm-peary-missed-north-pole/c96db90b-7e16-4d04-85b9-289a0b551870/ 

  • A&E Television Networks. (2025b, July 23). The Black Explorer who may have reached the North Pole first. History.com. https://www.history.com/articles/black-explorer-matthew-henson-north-pole 

  • National Archives and Records Administration. (n.d.). Mystery of the arctic ice: Who was first to the North Pole. National Archives and Records Administration. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2022/04/06/mystery-of-the-arctic-ice-who-was-first-to-the-north-pole/ 

  • Berman, E. (2015, August 31). The Mount McKinley Controversy: Who climbed denali first?. Time. https://time.com/4017660/mount-mckinley-denali-ascent-hoax/ 

  • US Department of Commerce, N. O. and A. A. (2013, June 1). Where is point nemo?. NOAA’s National Ocean Service. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/nemo.html 

  • NASA. (2025, November 27). International Space Station. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/reference/international-space-station/ 

  • Wall, M. (2025, November 2). Meet Point Nemo, where the International Space Station will die in 2030. Space. https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/meet-point-nemo-where-the-international-space-station-will-die-in-2030 

  • Poles of inaccessibility. UC Geography. (n.d.). https://legacy.geog.ucsb.edu/poles-of-inaccessibility/ 

  • Stefansson, V. (1920). The Region of Maximum Inaccessibility in the Arctic. Geographical Review, 10(3), 167–172. https://doi.org/10.2307/207749

  • Southern Pole of inaccessibility - antarctica. Poles of Inaccessibility. (2024, April 12). https://inaccessibility.net/southern-pole-of-inaccessibility/ 

  • Ceremonial pole markers: An Antarctic tradition | canadian geographic. (n.d.-a). https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/ceremonial-pole-markers-an-antarctic-tradition/ 

  • South pole marker. (n.d.). https://geosci.uchicago.edu/~drm7/photo/antarctica/pages/South%20pole%20marker.html 

  • DeMerit, J. (2026, January 8). Week 1 at the Pole. IceCube. https://icecube.wisc.edu/news/life-at-the-pole/2026/01/week-1-at-the-pole-6/ 

  • The 2021 pole marker. (n.d.). https://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/2020marker.html 

  • British Geological Survey 1998 - 2017 (c)NERC http://www.bgs.ac.uk mailto:www-bgs@bgs.ac.uk. (n.d.). The Earth’s magnetic field: An overview. Aurora over the North of Scotland. https://geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/earthmag.html 

  • Wandering of the geomagnetic poles. National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). (2025, April 14). https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/wandering-geomagnetic-poles 

  • Sorkhabi, R. (2025, December 1). Pole shift: Recent research tries to explain why the magnetic north pole is going wild. AAPG. https://www.aapg.org/news-and-media/details/explorer/articleid/69409/pole-shift 

  • Compass. Education. (n.d.). https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/compass/ 

  • Historical magnetic declination viewer. (n.d.). https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/historical-declination/ 

  • Welcome to Santa Claus Village: Arctic Circle, rovaniemi Lapland. Santa Claus Village. (2025, December 25). https://santaclausvillage.info/ 

  • By Cavit - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49580032

  • Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=660496

  • By Gaianauta - self-made using the technique described in Garcia-Castellanos, D., & U. Lombardo, 2007. Poles of Inaccessibility: a calculation algorithm for the remotest places on Earth. Scott. Geogr. J., 123, 227-233. Based on the coastline database of Wessel, P. & Smith, W. H. F. (1996) A global self-consistent, hierarchical, high-resolution shoreline database, Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, B4, 8741 – 8743. Lake shores are excluded., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3473092

Kara Nyhan

I am a graphic designer, film producing & director, and small business entrepreneur. My work focus is on creative and arts organizations and individuals, helping to create graphics, marketing materials, branding, and websites that fit their needs. I have a B.A. in Graphic Design and a M.B.A with a focus in entrepreneurship. Currently, I do business as Lore Art & Design.

https://www.lore-art-design.com
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Episode 27: Pumpkins