The busiest runway at Tampa International Airport reopened at 4 a.m. today, nearly two weeks after it was closed to re-designate runway and taxiway signage to account for a drift of the magnetic north pole toward Russia.
The numeric re-designation created no problems for flyers, airport officials said, and the airport's two other runways will be closed for 20 days for similar work.
But the news went viral on the Internet, setting off a groundswell of interest from life science researchers and news media from as far as Hong Kong, South Korea, Spain and Germany following a tbo.com and Tampa Tribune report on Jan. 6.
Interest was piqued although it's widely known in scientific circles that the magnetic North Pole drifts at nearly 40 miles a year because of magnetic changes in the planet's core.
"We verified what was happening to callers and explained the basics of how runways are numbered to the points on the compass," airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said.
"Maybe it was just that other airports that have made these changes did not explain what was happening and we did when we closed the runway," Geoghagan said.
The Federal Aviation Administration monitors the ongoing shift in the magnetic North Pole and requires airports to update its runway designations on aviation charts, spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said in Atlanta.
When the magnetic North Pole shifts, runway designations must be changed to stay in alignment with the aircraft's navigational compass.
The FAA did not immediately know how many airports had made changes recently. St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport is due to change runway designations in October, Bergen said.
tjackovics@tampatrib.com
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