Which term describes the angular difference between True North and Magnetic North?

Which term describes the angular difference between True North and Magnetic North?

• A. Variation
• B. Track
• C. True heading
• D. Drift

Answer: (A)

Variation describes the angular difference between True North and Magnetic North. It shows how far and in which direction magnetic north is from true north at a specific location, usually expressed in degrees east or west on charts. This difference matters when converting between true headings and magnetic headings for navigation; for example, with variation to the east you subtract that amount from a true heading to get the magnetic heading, while with west variation you add it. Drift and track refer to wind effects and the actual path over the ground, not the reference norths, and true heading is the nose direction relative to true north. So the term for the angular difference between True North and Magnetic North is variation.

Variation describes the angular difference between True North and Magnetic North. It shows how far and in which direction magnetic north is from true north at a specific location, usually expressed in degrees east or west on charts. This difference matters when converting between true headings and magnetic headings for navigation; for example, with variation to the east you subtract that amount from a true heading to get the magnetic heading, while with west variation you add it. Drift and track refer to wind effects and the actual path over the ground, not the reference norths, and true heading is the nose direction relative to true north. So the term for the angular difference between True North and Magnetic North is variation.