A Florida airport runway is set to reopen with new numbers and signage to compensate for a gradual shift in the Earth's magnetic North Pole, officials say.
The north-south Runway 18R/36L at Tampa International Airport is to be reopened as 19R/1L to show its alignment along compass headings, CNN reported Thursday.
Every five years the Federal Aviation Administration re-evaluates shifts, or magnetic variations, in the pole and makes changes to runway nomenclatures and flight procedures as needed.
The FAA also releases new aeronautical charts for pilots every 56 days, and the next one will include the changes to the Tampa runway, an FAA spokeswoman said.
"The Earth's magnetic fields are constantly changing," Kathleen Bergen said. "It's a very dynamic system so we make these changes effective every 56 days."
Runway compass headings are re-designated whenever the Earth's magnetic fields change and is a common practice, she said.
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