Secular Variation Of Geomagnetic Field Research Articles

Verification of the geomagnetic field models using historical satellite measurements obtained in 1964 and 1970

In 2019, the World Data Center for Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Moscow digitized the archive of observations of the Earth’s magnetic field carried out by the Soviet satellites Kosmos-49 (1964) and Kosmos-321 (1970). As a result, the scientific community for the first time obtained access to a unique digital data set, which was registered at the very beginning of the scientific space era. This article sets out three objectives. First, the quality of the obtained measurements is assessed by their comparison with the IGRF model. Second, we assess the quality of the models, which at that time were derived from the data of these two satellites. Third, we propose a new, improved model of the geomagnetic field secular variation based on the scalar measurements of the Kosmos-49 and Kosmos-321 satellites.Graphical

Review of Long-Term Trends in the Equatorial Ionosphere Due the Geomagnetic Field Secular Variations and Its Relevance to Space Weather

The Earth’s ionosphere presents long-term trends that have been of interest since a pioneering study in 1989 suggesting that greenhouse gases increasing due to anthropogenic activity will produce not only a troposphere global warming, but a cooling in the upper atmosphere as well. Since then, long-term changes in the upper atmosphere, and particularly in the ionosphere, have become a significant topic in global change studies with many results already published. There are also other ionospheric long-term change forcings of natural origin, such as the Earth’s magnetic field secular variation with very special characteristics at equatorial and low latitudes. The ionosphere, as a part of the space weather environment, plays a crucial role to the point that it could certainly be said that space weather cannot be understood without reference to it. In this work, theoretical and experimental results on equatorial and low-latitude ionospheric trends linked to the geomagnetic field secular variation are reviewed and analyzed. Controversies and gaps in existing knowledge are identified together with important areas for future study. These trends, although weak when compared to other ionospheric variations, are steady and may become significant in the future and important even now for long-term space weather forecasts.

Secular Variation of Geomagnetic Field at Karachi Observatory

Secular Variation of Geomagnetic Field at Karachi Observatory

South Atlantic Anomaly Areal Extent as a Possible Indicator of Geomagnetic Jerks in the Satellite Era

Geomagnetic jerks are sudden changes in the geomagnetic field secular variation related to changes in outer core flow patterns. Finding geophysical phenomena related to geomagnetic jerks provides a vital contribution to better understand the geomagnetic field behavior. Here, we link the geomagnetic jerks occurrence with one of the most relevant features of the geomagnetic field nowadays, the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), which is due to the presence of reversed flux patches (RFPs) at the Core-Mantle Boundary (CMB). Our results show that minima of acceleration of the areal extent of SAA calculated using the CHAOS-7 model (CHAOS-7.2 release) coincide with the occurrence of geomagnetic jerks for the last 2 decades. In addition, a new pulse in the secular acceleration of the radial component of the geomagnetic field has been observed at the CMB, with a maximum in 2016.2 and a minimum in 2017.5. This fact, along with the minimum observed in 2017.8 in the acceleration of the areal extent of SAA, could point to a new geomagnetic jerk. We have also analyzed the acceleration of the areal extent of South American and African RFPs at the CMB related to the presence of the SAA at surface and have registered minima in the same periods when they are observed in the SAA at surface. This reinforces the link found and would indicate that physical processes that produce the RFPs, and in turn the SAA evolution, contribute to the core dynamics at the origin of jerks.

Reflection of the solar activity Hale cycles on the geomagnetic field secular variations

The effect of dramatic decaying of solar activity in the twentieth cycle on secular variations of the Earth’s geomagnetic field has been investigated. Solar activity decay leads to reduction of the number of magnetic storms on the Earth. During the years of large-scale solar activity negative variations from external sources of the field — circular magnetospheric current, increase, as well as amplitudes of changes of auroral and equatorial ionospheric electrojets. Circular current reduces the horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field in low and medium latitudes and increases the vertical component in the high latitudes. In auroral latitudes the intensity of auroral electrojets increases during a magnetic storm. Therefore in more active years average annual absolute values of horizontal component of magnetic field will be smaller at the observatories situated in low and medium latitudes and average annual absolute values of the vertical component of magnetic field will be higher in the high latitudes of the Earth. As far as secular variations are determined as the difference between average annual values of the field, the effect of external sources of the field increases with the growth of solar activity.At the observatories of the northern hemisphere of the Earth (West Europe and North America) decaying of solar activity leads to the increase of average annual values of the field, i.e., to positive secular variations. The effect is maximal in the region of the magnetic pole. The amplitude of the effect decreases with the decrease of the latitude of the observatory. The sign of the effect changes (i.e. negative values of secular variations for the northern hemisphere) at the longitudes 60°Е («Kazan») and 150—160°E («cape Uellen», «Barrov»). Amplitudes of negative secular variations are maximal at the magnetic observatory «Irkutsk». The effect is not observed at the insular observatories as well as the observatories in South America. It is evidently a result of superposition of variations with different signs from the external and internal sources such as variations from the currents in the oceanic flows and the equality by the value of amplitude of secular variations from external and internal sources.

Long‐Term Trend of Topside Ionospheric Electron Density Derived From DMSP Data During 1995–2017

AbstractIn recent decades, significant efforts have been made to characterize and understand the global pattern of ionospheric long‐term trend. However, little attention has been paid to the topside ionosphere trend. In this study, the unique in situ data measured by series Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites were utilized to derive the long‐term trend of the topside ionosphere for the first time. We checked carefully data quality, gap, and consistency between different satellites for both electron density and ion temperature, and compared the techniques of artificial neuron network (ANN) and multiple linear regression methods for deriving the trend. The electron density (Ne) trend in the middle and low latitudes at ~860 km around 18 MLT was derived using the ANN method from 1995–2017. The trend from DMSP observations has a mean magnitude ranging from ~ − 2% to ~2% per decade, with clear seasonal, latitude and longitude variations. The derived trend was evaluated by directly comparing with the simulated trend at 500 km from the NCAR‐TIEGCM driven by realistic changes of CO2 level and geomagnetic field. The observed and simulated trends have similar geographic distribution patterns at 18 MLT. The good agreement between the observed trend around 860 km and the simulated trend near 500 km implies that the physical processes controlling the Ne trends above the peak height might be identical. Further control simulations show that the geomagnetic field secular variation is the dominant factor of the electron density trend at around 500 km, rather than the CO2 long‐term enhancement.

New paleomagnetic results from the ca. 1.68–1.63 Ga mafic dyke swarms in Western Shandong Province, Eastern China: Implications for the reconstruction of the Columbia supercontinent

The existence of Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Columbia (aka Nuna) was established decades ago, but the position of North China Craton within Columbia is still highly debated due to the paucity of available high-quality paleomagnetic and reliable geological constraints. Precise geochronological dating of extensive Mesoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms in Western Shandong Province (also named the Luxi area), China reveals two phases of dyke emplacement at ~1.68 Ga and ~1.63 Ga. In this paper, we report new paleomagnetic and rock magnetic results obtained from approximate 160 samples (16 sites) collected from these two phases of mafic dyke swarms in the Luxi area with the aim of pinpointing the location of North China Craton within Columbia supercontinent in this time interval. Rock magnetic experiments confirm that either magnetite or titanomagnetite is the main magnetic carrier in these dykes. Stepwise thermal demagnetization revealed two paleomagnetic poles. For the ~1.63 Ga dykes, normal and reversed high-temperature remanent magnetization directions yield a mean direction (D/I) of 86.1°/53.5° (κ = 43.3, α95 = 7.9°, N = 9). These directions pass a reversal test and are interpreted as primary remanences. The corresponding paleomagnetic pole is calculated at 20.8°N, 182.5°E (κ = 28.3, A95 = 8.3°, N = 9). This pole passes the examination of secular variation of geomagnetic field (Deenen et al., 2011, 2014). It fulfills a Van der Voo (1990) value Q = 6 and is therefore suggested to be a ‘key’ pole demarcating the Precambrian North China Craton. For the ~1.68 Ga dykes, only the normal directions are isolated with a mean direction (D/I) of 89.1°/47.1° (κ = 35.0, α95 = 13.1°, N = 5) with a corresponding paleomagnetic pole of 17.8°N, 184.9°E (κ = 29.6, A95 = 14.3°, N = 5). This pole passes the examination of secular variation of geomagnetic field. Finally we select the ~1.63 Ga high-quantity paleomagnetic pole in order to depict a more detailed apparent pole wander path (APWP) to compare with the other major Precambrian cratons. Combined with other geological evidence, our reconstruction scenario supports the spatio-temporal connection between the Baltica, North Australian Craton and North China Craton.

Palaeomagnetism for chronologies of recent alpine lake sediments: successes and limits

Chronologies of lake-sediment records covering the last centuries to millennia are usually based on both short-lived radionuclides and radiocarbon dating. However, beyond the range of short-lived radionuclides, age model accuracy often suffers from large radiocarbon uncertainties. For high-altitude records, this issue is even more prominent as terrestrial plant fragments for radiocarbon dating are often lacking due to the sparse vegetation in such environments. In this study, we evaluate the potential of the geomagnetic field secular variations as a complementary tool to establish more robust age–depth relationships. Our palaeomagnetic study, applied to five high-altitude lakes from the western European Alps, first shows that recent unconsolidated sediments can carry stable remanent magnetization. The analysis of the magnetic parameters indicates that low-coercivity pseudo-single domain magnetite grains carry the natural magnetization. Nevertheless, the quality of palaeomagnetic secular variation records varies from one lake to another. This quality can be illustrated through the calculation of the declination/inclination maximum angular variations and their comparison to the expected value. Compared with available models, the declination variations are usually too large and the inclination too high. We discuss the validity of palaeosecular variation (PSV) of the Earth’s magnetic field regarding rock magnetism, magnetization processes and possible deformation during coring. From a magnetic point of view, the quality of data is variable, but the characteristic remanent magnetization direction is consistent at site level between neighbouring lakes and with the reference curve, suggesting that geomagnetic field secular variations are approximately recorded. Finally, we attempt to correlate the declination/inclination variations of the characteristic remanent magnetization measured in the five records to the reference geomagnetic model to provide additional chronological markers for age–depth modelling. These stratigraphic chrono-markers appear in systematic agreement with our previous chronological data and enable a reduction of dating uncertainties up to 30% when including these chrono-markers in the age–depth modelling. This agreement supports the interpretation that PSV may have been recorded more or less accurately depending on the studied lake. Therefore, coupled with a comprehensive understanding through other analysis (sedimentology, dating, geochemistry), PSV can be used to improve the age models in the more favourable cases.

Features of Geomagnetic Field Secular Variation at the Midlatitude Mikhnevo and Belsk Observatories

The data from observation of the geomagnetic field variations at the Midlatitude Mikhnevo Geophysical Observatory of Institute of Geosphere Dynamics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Mikhnevo village, Moscow oblast, Russia (coordinates 54.959° N; 37.766° E) and at the INTERMAGNET international magnetic network station of the Belsk Geophysical Observatory of Geophysical Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Belsk, Poland (coordinates 51.837° N, 20.792° E) in 2008−2016 are analyzed. A long-term trend related to secular variation in the magnetic field of the Earth is studied by the daily-mean values. Annual variation is distinguished in the north horizontal component of the magnetic field. The reliability of the recent version of the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF-12) model, which was released in December 2014 to describe variations in the main magnetic field at the Mikhnevo and Belsk observatories, is estimated. The 2011 and 2014 jerks are identified.

Peculiarities of the geomagnetic field secular variations at the 20th solar activity cycle

The decrease of solar and; correspondingly; geomagnetic activities at the 20th cycle has reflected on the secular variations of the geomagnetic field. On the continental magnetic observatories of the Earth north hemisphere (Europe and North America) the effect was positive and maximal amplitude was observed at the region of geomagnetic and magnetic poles. If the latitudes of the observatories diminishes amplitude of the effect also decreased and was about zero at the latitudes less 45°. At the Asia; the effect was negative and its maximal amplitude was observed at the observatory IRT. The sign of the effect changes at longitudes 60° (observatory KZN) and 150°—180° (observatory CWE; BRW). At the african and south America observatories the effect was not observed. The most probably; it was result of total variations from external and internal sources and the nearness of observatories to the geomagnetic equator. At Earth’s south hemisphere; the most of the observatories are costal or are placed on the is-lands. The effect was not observed at these observatories. Maybe the induction current of ocean flows compensates the external variations. At the Antarctic continent the little amplitude effect was observed at the south magnetic pole region (DRV).

A New View of Long-Term Geomagnetic Field Secular Variation

This study carries out a statistical analysis of high-resolution PSV records for the last ~70 ka from three different regions of the Earth. We consider directional and intensity variability in each region on time scales of 103-105 years in order to evaluate long-term PSV. We then compare those results with more traditional long-term PSV statistical studies averaged over ~106 years. Three replicate PSV records from one region (subtropical North Atlantic Ocean) were averaged at overlapping 3ka and 9 ka intervals. Variability in both scalar inclination and declination variability and vector angular dispersion are significant and coherent among the three records. The vector dispersion is relatively low for most of the time but contains two relatively narrow intervals (~30-42 ka and 60-65 ka) of high dispersion. (Vector dispersion in all records was calculated after removing directions with true excursional VGPs, VGPs < 45° N.) We have carried out a comparable statistical analysis on two other PSV records from other parts of the Earth (Chile margin; Philippines/Indonesia). The results for these three regions are comparable in their overall style of variability. The scalar directional variability from the Philippines/Indonesia is quite different in detail from the other two regions, as might be expected, but the scalar directional variability between the Western Hemisphere regions is remarkably consistent considering their distance from one another. This may be associated with them being on the same longitude swath and having some coherent dynamo activity occurring along that path. Three magnetic field excursions occur in the study interval. All three excursions are associated with the two highest vector dispersion intervals. Paleointensity records from the three regions were subjected to the same statistical analysis as the directions. These records are allso coherent in their pattern of variability. The similarity in paleointensity variability on a global scale is expected even though the detailed scalar directional variability is not coherent on a global scale. The pattern of intensity variability is strongly correlated with the pattern of vector dispersion and excursions on a global scale – high (low) intensity is associated with low (high plus excursions) vector dispersion.

Secular variations of the geomagnetic field on litosphere plates of the Earth

The dependence of the value and sign of the geomagnetic secular variations (SV) refined of 3- and 11-year components on the position of observatories at different tectonic plates is investigated. The observatories of the long row observations were used for the studies. It is shown, that SV contain the components from internal and external sources. The values of the components change from plate to plate and even on the same plate. The secular variations have greater amplitudes in the regions with the intensive tectonic processes. Ten regions, having peculiar character of the SV, are distinguished. Secular variation may be of opposite phases in different tectonic plates, but extremes of their curves of hourly changes and the change of SV sign in most cases coincide with maximums and minimums of solar and geomagnetic activities. The assumption is made that internal and external sources of SV of the geomagnetic field are mutually connected. External sources play an important role in generation of SV. The maximal amplitudes of SV during all observational period were observed in two regions: the first region — the eastern part of the North-American plate, Caribbean plate and the northern part of the South-American plate, the second region — the western part of the Indian ocean. The value of SV component from the external sources depends on the geomagnetic latitudes of the observation places. Its amplitude increases with the increase of latitude of the observatories. The maximal values of SV components from external sources are observed at the magnetic and geomagnetic poles. The influence of the external sources on SV value is observed at the observatories placed under equatorial ionospheric electrojet. The main peculiarity of the nowadays geomagnetic field secular variations is decreasing the field intensity in the most regions of the Earth. In the second half of the twentieth century the regular small increasing of the field is observed only in the European part of Eurasian plate.

Geomagnetic field secular variation in Pacific Ocean: A Bayesian reference curve based on Holocene Hawaiian lava flows

Hawaii is an ideal place for reconstructing the past variations of the Earth's magnetic field in the Pacific Ocean thanks to the almost continuous volcanic activity during the last 10 000 yrs. We present here an updated compilation of palaeomagnetic data from historic and radiocarbon dated Hawaiian lava flows available for the last ten millennia. A total of 278 directional and 66 intensity reference data have been used for the calculation of the first full geomagnetic field reference secular variation (SV) curves for central Pacific covering the last ten millennia. The obtained SV curves are calculated following recent advances on curve building based on the Bayesian statistics and are well constrained for the last five millennia while for older periods their error envelopes are wide due to the scarce number of reference data. The new Bayesian SV curves show three clear intensity maxima during the last 3000 yrs that are accompanied by sharp directional changes. Such short-term variations of the geomagnetic field could be interpreted as archaeomagnetic jerks and could be an interesting feature of the geomagnetic field variation in the Pacific Ocean that should be further explored by new data.

Dynamics of geomagnetic field secular variations at the Antarctic continent

Dynamics of geomagnetic field secular variations at the Antarctic continent

On the frequency spectra of the core magnetic field Gauss coefficients

From monthly mean observatory data spanning 1957–2014, geomagnetic field secular variation values were calculated by annual differences. Estimates of the spherical harmonic Gauss coefficients of the core field secular variation were then derived by applying a correlation based modelling. Finally, a Fourier transform was applied to the time series of the Gauss coefficients. This process led to reliable temporal spectra of the Gauss coefficients up to spherical harmonic degree 5 or 6, and down to periods as short as 1 or 2years depending on the coefficient. We observed that a k-2 slope, where k is the frequency, is an acceptable approximation for these spectra, with possibly an exception for the dipole field. The monthly estimates of the core field secular variation at the observatory sites also show that large and rapid variations of the latter happen. This is an indication that geomagnetic jerks are frequent phenomena and that significant secular variation signals at short time scales – i.e. less than 2years, could still be extracted from data to reveal an unexplored part of the core dynamics.

Dynamics of temporal changes of geomagnetic field secular variations

Time changes of the geomagnetic field secular variations, cleaned by three and eleven years running means were studying. The years of the changes of sign secular variations and years of the changes of their velocity were found. It was shown that these years are observed at the solar activity extremeness and the secular variations jerks coincide with these years also. It made conclusion that jarks have great component due external sources

Temporal changes of the secular variations of geomagnetic field in Europe

Temporal changes of the secular variations of geomagnetic field in Europe

Increasing exposure of geosynchronous orbit in solar wind due to decay of Earth's dipole field

AbstractThe Earth's dipole moment has been decaying over the past 1.5 centuries. The magnetosphere thus has been shrinking and the chance of geosynchronous magnetopause crossings has been increasing. We quantitatively evaluate the increasing exposure of geosynchronous orbit in the solar wind caused by the decay of dipole moment and the variation of solar wind condition and study the possible situation if such decay persists for several more centuries. The results show that the average subsolar magnetopause distance would move earthward by ~0.3 RE per century, assuming the linear decreasing of the Earth's dipole moment at present rate. The minimum solar wind dynamic pressure required for geosynchronous magnetopause crossings will decrease by ~4 nPa (2 nPa) in the next 100 years under northward (southward) interplanetary magnetic field. Under normal solar wind conditions, the noon region of the geosynchronous orbit will be exposed to the solar wind in the next few centuries. These results suggest that the secular variations of geomagnetic field are of paramount importance for our understanding of space climate.

Valuation of induction current contribution to the secular variation of geomagnetic field (according to the data of Ukrainian geomagnetic observatories)

Induction current contribution to the secular variation of geomagnetic field in accordance with the data of Ukrainian geomagnetic observatories has been investigated. The dynamics of the monthly changes of the secular variations depending on the values of the induction currents has been shown. Correlation between changes of secular variations and solar activity has been found. Changes of solar activity outstrip secular variation changes.

Free core nutation and geomagnetic jerks

Variations in free core nutation (FCN) are associated with different processes in the Earth's fluid core and core–mantle coupling. The same processes are generally caused the variations in the geomagnetic field (GMF) particularly the geomagnetic jerks (GMJs), which are rapid changes in GMF secular variations. Therefore, the joint investigation of variations in FCN and GMF can elucidate the Earth's interior and dynamics. In this paper, we investigated the FCN amplitude and phase variations derived from VLBI observations. Comparison of the epochs of the changes in the FCN amplitude and phase with the epochs of the GMJs indicated that the observed extremes in the FCN amplitude and phase variations were closely related to the GMJ epochs. In particular, the FCN amplitude begins to grow one to three years after the GMJs. Thus, processes that cause GMJs are assumed as sources of FCN excitation.