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NOAA > NESDIS > NCEI (formerly NGDC) > Geomagnetism privacy policy
All Geomag
Data Declination Indices Models
Geomagnetism FAQ
several years?
not?
9. How accurate are the magnetic field models? What is the error of
10. Do your models include magnetic fields from power lines or other
manmade sources?
IGRF?
13. Does your agency still publish the hard copy magnetic declination
charts?
year?
3. Does the latitude/longitude input require geodetic coordinates or
geocentric coordinates?
app?
V. Legal Questions
1. May I include an image from your webpage in my publication?
I. General Questions
1. What is the Earth's magnetic field?
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The magnetic poles are defined as the area where dip (I) is
vertical. You can compute this area using magnetic field models,
such as the World Magnetic Model (WMM) and the International
Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF). You can also survey for the
magnetic pole, using instruments that measure the magnetic field
strength and direction. In practice, the geomagnetic field is not
exactly vertical at these poles, but is vertical on oval-shaped loci
traced on a daily basis, with considerable variation from one day
to another, and approximately centered on the dip pole positions.
Magnetic declination (D) is unreliable near the poles. More
information is available at wandering poles.
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6. Where are the magnetic poles?
The magnetic poles or dip pole are computed from all the Gauss
coefficients using an iterative method. Based on the current WMM
model, the 2015 location of the north magnetic pole is 86°N and
159°W and the south magnetic pole is 64°S and 137°E.
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During the past 100 million years, the reversal rates vary
considerably. Consecutive reversals were spaced 5 thousand
years to 50 million years. The last time the magnetic field
reversed was about 750,000 - 780,000 years ago. While we now
appear to be in a period of declining magnetic field strength, we
cannot state for certain if or when a magnetic reversal will occur.
Based on measurements of the Earth's magnetic field taken since
about 1850 some paleomagnetists estimate that the dipole
moment will decay in about 1,300 years. However, the present
dipole moment (a measure of how strong the magnetic field is) is
actually higher than it has been for most of the last 50,000 years
and the current decline could reverse at any time.
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Please note that these models are outdated and that we do not
recommend its use for any purposes other than software
evaluation. Write to us atgeomag.models@noaa.gov for old
coefficient files. For earlier than 2015.0, we recommend the use
of IGRF model (which are updated retrospectively with the newer
data sets). Technical reports for the older versions of WMM are
available
here https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/WMM_old_repor
ts.shtml.
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6. There seem to be many models listed here,
WMM, IGRF, EMM, USHistoric, etc what are
the differences between them?
The models available on our website can be split into two broad
categories, predictive models designed to give magnetic field
values for future dates, and historic models designed to give
magnetic field values for past dates. Our predictive models are
the WMM, EMM, HDGM, and HDGM-RT. These differ in what they
predict; the WMM predicts only the main magnetic field
generated by the Earth's internal dynamo, while the EMM, HDGM
and HDGM-RT include contributions from the Earth's crust. The
HDGM also includes a basic model of the external field. The
HDGM-RT includes a real-time model of the Earth's external field.
They also differ in how often they are updated; the WMM and
EMM are updated once every five years, while the HDGM is
updated every year.
Historic models that we use are the IGRF, the gUFM, the
USHistoric model, as well as the IGRF+. The IGRF is the accepted
international scientific model of the Earth's field going back to the
year 1900. The gUFM is a research model created by Jackson,
Jonkers, and Walker (Jackson et al., 2000, Four centuries of
geomagnetic secular variation from historical records, Phil. Trans.
Roy. Soc. Lond. A, 358, 957- 90.); it goes back to 1590. The
IGRF+ is a combination of these models that uses an
interpolation from 1890 to 1900 to ensure a smooth transition.
Finally, the USHistoric is a model based on a polynomial
interpolation of early magnetic data in the continental United
States (This is different from all of our other models which use a
spherical harmonic expansion to model the magnetic field).
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Update: Our calculators now support dates before 1900, the new
range for the IGRF+ is 1590-2020!
Since there were not many regular observations of the
geomagnetic field prior to the 20th century, it is difficult to make
a reliable geomagnetic field model for dates before 1900. Based
primarily on magnetic data from ship logs, the GUFM model
(Jackson et al., 2000, Four centuries of geomagnetic secular
variation from historical records, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. A,
358, 957- 90.) covers the period 1590 - 1990.
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In general, the present day field models such as the IGRF and
World Magnetic Model (WMM) are accurate to within 30 minutes
of arc for D and I and about 200 nanoTesla for the intensity
elements. It is important to understand that local magnetic
anomalies exceeding 10 degrees of declination, although rare, do
exist. Local anomalies of 3 to 4 degrees also exist in relatively
limited spatial areas. One area in Minnesota has a mapped
anomalous area of 16 degrees east declination with anomalies a
few miles away of 12 degrees west!
The second type of error originates from errors in the data and
methods used for developing the magnetic models. These are
called errors of commission and are much smaller than the errors
of omission. At our website
- https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/limit.shtml, we
provide maps of the declination inaccuracy. Fig 1. shows the
inaccuracy at the start of the new model (WMM2015). Figure 2
shows the inaccuracy estimated for the year 2020.0 (5 year old
model). It shows that the error in declination (magnetic bearing
or heading will inherit the same inaccuracy) can near 1° near the
magnetic dip poles in 2015. However, the declination error is
different in different part of the Earth - but mostly less than 0.3°.
For more information see the WMM technical report (p 55) and
the IGRF "Health Warning".
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No, stray magnetic fields from power lines or similar sources are
not included in the model. In general manmade structures are
too small to be seen with our models, which have resolutions of
at least 30 km.
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There are established zones around the north and south magnetic
poles where compass behavior is deemed to be “erratic” and
“unusable”. These zones are defined where H (the horizontal
intensity) is between 3000 nT - 6000 nT (erratic zone) and H is
less than 3000 nT (unusable zone). Experts in the field claim
that if you have a good compass and are careful, you can get
decent results through the “erratic” zone. However, when H is
small (H < 2000nT), the daily variation in D can easily be greater
than 10 degrees.
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4. How do I access your calculators
programmatically for my app?
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7. Do you have software for calculating the
magnetic field or declination at multiple
points?
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V. Legal Questions
1. Are the magnetic models or software
copyrighted?
No. The WMM source code is in the public domain and not
licensed or under copyright. The information and software may
be used freely by the public. As required by 17 U.S.C. 403, third
parties producing copyrighted works consisting predominantly of
the material produced by U.S. government agencies must provide
notice with such work(s) identifying the U.S. Government
material incorporated and stating that such material is not
subject to copyright protection.
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2. May I include an image from your webpage in
my publication?
The images and maps created and posted online by NCEI are free
to be used. You do not require our permission to do so. Though
not required, we would appreciate you giving credit to NCEI for
its products.
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NOAA > NESDIS > NCEI (formerly NGDC) > Geomagnetism Questions: geomag.models@noaa.gov
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