Compass roses on the Book of Navigation ( Kitab-ı Bahriye): Declination data source for geomagnetic field models

Abstract

The Earth is surrounded by a geomagnetic field that is generated by dynamo processes in the core like a gigantic magnet. The Earth's geomagnetic field shifts with time and location. There has been a comprehensive effort for modelling the geomagnetic field of the Earth at regional and global scales by several researchers in the recent decades. The magnetic data from historical sources have a great importance in geomagnetic field modelling. The declination was the first measured geomagnetic field element with the early use of compasses for navigation. In this study the declination values estimated from compass roses drawn on the Book of Navigation ( Kitab-ı Bahriye) that are georeferenced by an artificial neural network are compared to the declination values based on the geomagnetic field models CALS3K.3 and SCHA.DIF.3K. The results show that the compass roses drawn on the portolan charts of Kitab-ı Bahriye can be used as declination data sources for regional or global geomagnetic field models.