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dukesdj t1_j4w8w7y wrote

Reply to comment by CrustalTrudger in Why is it that the cardinal directions are perpendicular? by [deleted]

> magnetic dip north is the location where the magnetic field is oriented vertically

Presumably in general magnetic dip poles do not strictly need to some as a single pair and could come in any number of pairs? I am essentially thinking along the lines that there is no strict mechanism to enforce that only two such locations would exist in a general astrophysical dynamo (for example there are many locations with locally vertical field at the surface of the Sun).

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CrustalTrudger t1_j4w9a5g wrote

I would assume so, but as far as I know on Earth, we tend to find two distinct dip poles roughly equivalent to a north and south pole (i.e., one with a +90 inclination and one with a -90 inclination). You might expect that during a geomagnetic reversal (which is often described as a weakening/temporary collapse of the dipole component and thus a relative strengthening of the higher order field components) you could have more than one pair of dip poles, maybe?

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