Geomagnetic Measurements Research Articles

Research on Three-Component Geomagnetic Field Differential Measurement Method for Underwater Vehicle

Research on Three-Component Geomagnetic Field Differential Measurement Method for Underwater Vehicle

Spinning projectile’s attitude measurement using background magnetic field compensation

Microinertial sensors currently cannot provide long-term stability attitude information for a spinning projectile because of drift error. An attitude measuring method of a spinning pro- jectile based on the background magnetic field (BMF) compensation is presented. The effect of the BMF is discussed, with particular attention to its implications for magnetometer-based attitude measuring. First, a compensation model of the BMF is established. Then, the error in measuring attitude caused by the BMF is analyzed using a theoretical model and numerical simulation. An attitude measuring algorithm for the spinning projectile based on the intersection ratio of magnetic sensors is proposed. Finally, semiphysical experiments are carried out to prove the effectiveness of this attitude measurement method. The experiment results indicate that the error of attitude angles is within � 1 deg and the attitude angle error of the combined magnetic sensors is not cumulated. Compared with the traditional geomagnetic attitude measurement method, the accuracy of our method is improved, which can be used for the trajectory correction of simple guided ammunition. © 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Calibration and Compensation of Geomagnetic Vector Measurement System and Improvement of Magnetic Anomaly Detection

The magnetometer error and distortion magnetic field of an inertial navigation system are the major two factors influencing the measurement accuracy of geomagnetic vector information measurement systems. The calibration and compensation methods are proposed in this letter. As a first step, a calibration model for a three-axis magnetometer is established, and a nonlinear least square algorithm is used to estimate thoroughly the error parameters. Then, a distortion compensation model based on relative attitude information is proposed, in which only four groups of attitude information are needed to estimate precisely the distortion parameters. Finally, the whole system is used for magnetic anomaly detection. Experimental results suggest that the magnetometer error can be accurately calibrated, and the magnetic field distortion can be suppressed significantly. After calibration and compensation, the intensity and magnetic anomaly vectors such as west vector, south vector, and vertical vector can be accurately measured by the geomagnetic vector measurement system. It demonstrates that the proposed method can effectively improve the accuracy of the geomagnetic vector measurement system.

An Analysis of Geomagnetic Variations Related to Earthquakes Location which Occurred in and around the Korean Peninsula from 2012 to 2014

This study aimed at the correlation analysis of geomagnetic variations related to earthquakes which occurred in and around the Korean Peninsula from 2012 to 2014. The wavelet-based semblance technique was used to confirm the geomagnetic variations related to earthquakes. As a result, a pattern of consistent geomagnetic variations in total magnetic has been found from the earthquakes occurred within 100 km radius around the observation site. A similar correlation between earthquake location and Z-field geomagnetic data was also confirmed by the wavelet-based semblance analysis. We mainly used the high quality geomagnetic measurements from the Cheongyang Observatory and additionally used the data from the Bohyunsan Observatory in order to validate the correlation between earthquake and Z-field geomagnetic data.

Design of 3-D Magnetic Field Sensor With Single Bridge of Spin-Valve Giant Magnetoresistance Films

A 3-D magnetic field sensor for geomagnetic field measurement was designed, fabricated, and characterized in this paper. The device comprises spin-valve giant magnetoresistance sheet films of Si–SiO2/Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/IrMn/Ta to form a Wheatstone bridge using separate chips and a magnetic flux guide. The reduction of hysteresis and control of operation point were solved using the technique applying both the ac and dc magnetic biasing. The outputs from each axis were obtained using a computer-based driving and detection systems to retrieve the $x$ -, $y$ -, and $z$ -field components. The sensitivities were found to be 0.25, 0.15, and 0.07 mV/V/Oe for $x$ -, $y$ -, and $z$ -components, respectively. The proposed concept can be realized as a miniature 3-D magnetic field sensor of low cost and low power.

Comparisons of geomagnetic transmission measurements with modified Tsyganenko 1989 model calculations for the October 1989 Solar Energetic Particle events

We have determined eight-second averaged geomagnetic transmissions of 36–80MeV protons for the large Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events and geomagnetic activity level variations of October 1989 using measurements from the NOAA-10 and GOES-7 satellites. We have compared the geomagnetic transmission measurements with model calculations employing trajectory tracings through the combined International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) and Kp/Dst modified 1989 Tsyganenko model. We present threshold geomagnetic transmission geographic latitudes and magnetic latitudes, as well as (a) differences between the measured and calculated threshold geographic latitudes and magnetic latitudes and (b) differences between measured and calculated polar pass durations. We find that for less disturbed geomagnetic activity levels, the measured threshold geomagnetic transmission geographic and magnetic latitudes are typically about 1–1.5° equatorward of the calculated geographic and magnetic latitudes, while for larger geomagnetic activity levels, the measured geographic and magnetic latitudes can be about 1.5° poleward of the calculated geographic and magnetic latitudes. For the eight Kp bins, we also compare the mean measured magnetic latitudes as a function of mean Dst with the mean calculated magnetic latitudes, interpolated to the mean measured Dst values. These comparisons of mean magnetic latitudes illustrate the improvement in the accuracy of the model calculations resulting from employing the actual mean measured Dst values.

Toward more reliable long‐term indices of geomagnetic activity: Correcting a new inhomogeneity problem in early geomagnetic data

AbstractFor the time before the space era, our knowledge of the centennial evolution of solar wind (SW) and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is based on proxies derived from geomagnetic indices. The reliability of these proxies is dependent on the homogeneity of magnetic field data. In this paper, we study the interhourly (IHV) and interdiurnal (IDV1d) variability indices calculated from the data of two British observatories, Eskdalemuir and Lerwick, and compare them to the corresponding indices of the German Niemegk observatory. We find an excess of about 14 ± 4% (5.8 ± 2%) and 27 ± 10% (15 ± 6%) in the IHV (IDV1d) in the indices of Eskdalemuir and Lerwick in 1935–1969. The timing of this excess accurately coincides with instrument changes made in these observatories, strongly supporting the interpretation that the excess is indeed caused by instrument related inhomogeneities in the data of Eskdalemuir and Lerwick. We show that the detected excess notably modifies the long‐term trend of geomagnetic activity and the centennial evolution of IMF strength and solar wind speed estimated using these indices. We note that the detected inhomogeneity problem may not be limited to the data of the two studied observatories but may be quite common to long series of geomagnetic measurements. These results question the reliability of the present measures of the centennial change in solar wind speed and IMF.

Adaptive square-root cubature–quadrature Kalman particle filter via KLD-sampling for orbit determination

Orbit determination (OD) problem utilizing onboard sensors is a key requirement for many current and future space missions. Though there exists ample research and work on this subject, a novel algorithm is presented in this paper for the nonlinear problem of OD. In this regard, initially a new cubature–quadrature particle filter (CQPF) that uses the square-root cubature–quadrature Kalman filter (SR-CQKF) to generate the importance proposal distribution is developed. The developed CQPF scheme avoids the limitation of the standard particle filter (PF) concerning new measurements. Subsequently, CQPF is enhanced to take advantage of the relative entropy (Kullback–Leibler Distance) criterion to adaptively select the number of particles thus enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of the newly proposed adaptive CQPF (ACQPF). The current study also applies ACQPF for the OD of a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite equipped with a three-axis magnetometer (TAM) sensor pack that provides noisy geomagnetic field measurements. The results and performance of the proposed filter are compared with a variety of Gaussian approximation filters as well as different versions of PF via a Monte Carlo simulation. It is demonstrated that the proposed ACQPF outperforms the comparative estimators in terms of the root mean square of the estimation error. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis on the orbital elements, plants' and the estimators' parameters is conducted to verify the feasibility and robustness of the ACQPF over a wider acceptable range of operating system and environment.

History of the Munich–Maisach–Fürstenfeldbruck Geomagnetic Observatory

Abstract. The Munich–Maisach–Fürstenfeldbruck Geomagnetic Observatory is one of the observatories with the longest recordings of the geomagnetic field. It started with hourly measurements on 1 August 1840. The founder of the observatory in Munich was Johann von Lamont (1805–1879), the Director of the Royal Bavarian Astronomical Observatory. He had been stimulated to build his own observatory by the initiative of the Göttingen Magnetic Union founded in 1834 by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) and Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855). Before 1840 fewer than five observatories existed; the most prominent ones were those in London and Paris. At the beginning Lamont used equipment delivered by Gauss in Göttingen, but soon started to build instruments of his own design. Among them was a nonmagnetic theodolite which allowed precise geomagnetic measurements to be made also in the field. During the 1850s Lamont carried out geomagnetic surveys and produced geomagnetic maps for Germany and many other European countries. At the end of the nineteenth century accurate geomagnetic measurements in Munich became more and more disturbed by the magnetic stray fields from electric tramways and industry. During this period the quality of the data suffered and the measurements had to be interrupted several times. After a provisional solution in Maisach, a village 25 km west of Munich, a final solution could be found in the vicinity of the nearby city of Fürstenfeldbruck. Here the measurements started again on 1 January 1939. Since the 1980s the observatory has been part of INTERMAGNET, an organization providing almost real-time geomagnetic data of the highest quality.

POGO satellite orbit corrections: an opportunity to improve the quality of the geomagnetic field measurements?

We present an attempt to improve the quality of the geomagnetic field measurements from the Polar Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (POGO) satellite missions in the late 1960s. Inaccurate satellite positions are believed to be a major source of errors for using the magnetic observations for field modelling. To improve the data, we use an iterative approach consisting of two main parts: one is a main field modelling process to obtain the radial field gradient to perturb the orbits and the other is the state-of-the-art GPS orbit modelling software BERNESE to calculate new physical orbits. We report results based on a single-day approach showing a clear increase of the data quality. That single-day approach leads, however, to undesirable orbital jumps at midnight. Furthermore, we report results obtained for a much larger data set comprising almost all of the data from the three missions. With this approach, we eliminate the orbit discontinuities at midnight but only tiny quality improvements could be achieved for geomagnetically quiet data. We believe that improvements to the data are probably still possible, but it would require the original tracking observations to be found.

Statistical analysis of geomagnetic field variations during the partial solar eclipse on 2011 January 4 in Turkey

Some geophysical parameters, such as those related to gravitation and the geomagnetic field, could change during solar eclipses. In order to observe geomagnetic fluctuations, geomagnetic measurements were carried out in a limited time frame during the partial solar eclipse that occurred on 2011 January 4 and was observed in Canakkale and Ankara, Turkey. Additionally, records of the geomagnetic field spanning 24 hours, obtained from another observatory (in Iznik, Turkey), were also analyzed to check for any peculiar variations. In the data processing stage, a polynomial fit, following the application of a running average routine, was applied to the geomagnetic field data sets. Geomagnetic field data sets indicated there was a characteristic decrease at the beginning of the solar eclipse and this decrease can be well-correlated with previous geomagnetic field measurements that were taken during the total solar eclipse that was observed in Turkey on 2006 March 29. The behavior of the geomagnetic field is also consistent with previous observations in the literature. As a result of these analyses, it can be suggested that eclipses can cause a shielding effect on the geomagnetic field of the Earth.

The 2011 eruption of Aso volcano, Japan, and its signature on the geomagnetic field measurements

High-resolution (1-s) geomagnetic data from the MAGDAS Network, Kyushu University, Japan, were examined to detect any local anomalous geomagnetic behavior that is possibly linked with the eruption of the Aso volcano, Kyushu Island, Japan, during 2011. Geomagnetic data recorded in the vicinity of the Aso volcano at the Kuju (KUJ) station, Japan, were analyzed and compared with those recorded at the Darwin (DAW) station in Australia, near the conjugate point of the KUJ station. The KUJ station is located about 20 km northeast of the Aso volcano. The amplitude range of daily variations was calculated and examined for the three geomagnetic components (H-, D-, and Z-components) along with the amplitude of ultra–low-frequency emissions in the Pc3-4 ranges (Pc3; 10–45 s and Pc4; 45–150 s). Data possessing and analysis reveal some local anomalous geomagnetic variations at the KUJ station during the 2011 volcanic activities of the Aso volcano. On the other hand, no anomalous changes were observed at the DAW station during that time. Therefore, the observed anomalous geomagnetic variations are considered to be of a local volcanic origin.

A Primary Research on Marine Magnetic Disturbance Correction Method Using Uncombined Precise Point Positioning

ABSTRACT Luo, X.; Gao, J.; Jin, X.; Li, J., and Chu, F., 2015. A primary research on marine magnetic disturbance correction method using uncombined precise point positioning. Marine magnetic survey is an important mean of geophysical exploration. The magnetic disturbance magnitude, the start and end time, and perfecting magnetic disturbance model are important for magnetic survey. In this paper, on the basis of that dual-frequency GNSS is able to get the ionospheric total electron content, reflect the nature of the magnetic disturbance characteristics, etc. the study of magnetic disturbance correction in marine magnetism measurements using dual-frequency GNSS is carried out. Through quality controlled by the dual-frequency GNSS phase observations, ionospheric total electron content solved by static and dynamic at slant direction. Comparing the solving with geomagnetic observatories and marine magnetic measurements, the solution showed that there is relatively strong correlation between ionospheric total e...

Geomagnetic paleointensity at ∼2.41 Ga as recorded by the Widgiemooltha Dike Swarm, Western Australia

Absolute geomagnetic paleointensity measurements were conducted on samples from six mafic dikes of the ∼2.41 Ga Widgiemooltha swarm (Western Australia). Rock magnetic analyses indicate that the paleointensity signal is carried by nearly stoichiometric pseudosingle-domain magnetite and/or low-Ti titanomagnetite. Paleointensity values were determined using the Thellier double-heating method supplemented by low-temperature demagnetizations (the LTD-Thellier method) in order to reduce the effect of magnetic remanence carried by large pseudosingle-domain and multidomain magnetite grains. Thirty-one samples from five dikes yielded successful paleointensity determinations with the mean value of 41.2±3.8 μT, which corresponds to a virtual dipole moment of 6.65±0.98 Am2. The mean and range of paleofield strength values are similar to those of the recent Earth's magnetic field and are consistent with a compositionally driven geodynamo established by the earliest Paleoproterozoic Era. The existence of a stable, dipolar geomagnetic field during the Proterozoic indicated by paleointensity and paleodirectional data from this and prior studies seems incompatible with a young age of the inner core suggested by recent models of the Earth's thermal evolution. Acquisition of reliable paleointensity estimates using the novel approaches such as the LTD-Thellier method is crucial in constraining the development of more realistic, Earth-like models of long-term geodynamo behavior.

The component compensation of geomagnetic field vector measurement system

Abstract Magnetic field distortion of INS is the major factor influencing the accuracy of geomagnetic field information measurement system. Simulation and experiment results show that traditional scalar compensation methods are disabled for component compensation. A component compensation method is proposed, in which parallelepiped frame and perpendicular platform are used with designed operation process. Comparing with traditional methods, the component compensation method is effective for distortion parameter estimation, and it shows better component compensation performance. Experimental test result demonstrates that distortion field components of INS are suppressed approximately two orders after compensation, and the North, Vertical and East component measurement error of the geomagnetic field are reduced to 2.3%, 3.3% and 4.5% of the former values respectively. Declination error is reduced from 7.074° to 0.331° (4.6% of the former value). This compensation method contributes to the accuracy improvement of geomagnetic field vector measurement system.

Guidance Law Design for a Class of Dual-Spin Mortars

To minimize the cost and maximize the ease of use, a class of dual-spin mortars is designed which only rely on GPS receiver and geomagnetic measurements. However, there are some problems to be solved when the range is small, such as low correction authority and trajectory bending. Guidance law design for this mortar is detailed. Different guidance laws were designed for the ascending and descending segments, respectively. By taking variable parameter guidance law in the vertical plane and using compensation in the lateral plane, the problems mentioned above were resolved. Roll angle resolving algorithms with geomagnetic measurements were demonstrated and the experiment results proved to be effective. In order to verify the effectiveness, Seven-Degrees-of-Freedom (7-DOF) rigid ballistic model were established and hardware in the loop simulation was introduced. After the transform function of the actuator was obtained, the control model of the shell was improved. The results of the Monte Carlo simulation demonstrate that the guidance law is suitable and the mortar can be effectively controlled.

RADAR MEASUREMENTS OF GEOMAGNETIC FIELD IN THE IONOSPHERE

Comparison of different methods of geomagnetic field strength measurements is carried out. It is shown that radar measurement method is suitable for this aim.

Orbit determination via adaptive Gaussian swarm optimization

Accurate orbit determination (OD) is vital for every space mission. This paper proposes a novel heuristic filter based on adaptive sample-size Gaussian swarm optimization (AGSF). The proposed estimator considers the OD as a stochastic dynamic optimization problem that utilizes a swarm of particles in order to find the best estimation at every time step. One of the key contributions of this paper is the adaptation of the swarm size using a weighted variance approach. The proposed strategy is simulated for a low Earth orbit (LEO) OD problem utilizing geomagnetic field measurements at 700km altitude. The performance of the proposed AGSF is verified using Monte Carlo simulation whose results are compared with other advanced sample based nonlinear filters. It is demonstrated that the adopted filter achieves about 2.5km accuracy in position estimation that fulfills the essential requirements of accuracy and convergence time for OD problem.

Applying inversion techniques to derive source currents and geoelectric fields for geomagnetically induced current calculations

Abstract. This research focuses on the inversion of geomagnetic variation field measurement to obtain source currents in the ionosphere. During a geomagnetic disturbance, the ionospheric currents create magnetic field variations that induce geoelectric fields, which drive geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in power systems. These GIC may disturb the operation of power systems and cause damage to grounded power transformers. The geoelectric fields at any location of interest can be determined from the source currents in the ionosphere through a solution of the forward problem. Line currents running east–west along given surface position are postulated to exist at a certain height above the Earth's surface. This physical arrangement results in the fields on the ground having the magnetic north and down components, and the electric east component. Ionospheric currents are modelled by inverting Fourier integrals (over the wavenumber) of elementary geomagnetic fields using the Levenberg–Marquardt technique. The output parameters of the inversion model are the current strength, height and surface position of the ionospheric current system. A ground conductivity structure with five layers from Quebec, Canada, based on the Layered-Earth model is used to obtain the complex skin depth at a given angular frequency. This paper presents preliminary and inversion results based on these structures and simulated geomagnetic fields. The results show some interesting features in the frequency domain. Model parameters obtained through inversion are within 2% of simulated values. This technique has applications for modelling the currents of electrojets at the equator and auroral regions, as well as currents in the magnetosphere.

Algorithms for accurate LEO geomagnetic measurements with satellite-mounted magnetometers

Geomagnetic measurements are important in space weather and engineering applications of earth-orbiting satellites. This research presents an innovative algorithm that enables high-quality magnetic field measurements on spacecraft without booms. The algorithm estimates the background field using multiple magnetometers and current telemetry on board a spacecraft. Results of a hardware-in-the-loop simulation showed an order of magnitude reduction in the magnetic effects of spacecraft onboard time-varying currents-from 300 nT to an average residual of 15 nT.