Magnetic Observatory Data and Metadata: Types and Availability

Abstract

The availability of magnetic observatory data has evolved rapidly with the transition of observatories from analogue photographic magnetograms to digital electronic recordings, and the advent of the internet for instant global access to information of every sort. Metadata (information about the data) is undergoing its own transformation in order to accompany the rapid and extensive dissemination of these data. This chapter describes the types of data historically and currently produced by geomagnetic observatories and introduces new data types such as one-second and quasi-absolute data recently discussed at the 11 th IAGA Scientific Assembly in Sopron, Hungary. We review the availability of these data types from the World Data Centres, INTERMAGNET and other sources. Finally, we discuss developments in metadata describing the current efforts in the geomagnetism community to gather, store and distribute this information about the data to better assist scientific discovery.

GEOMAGIA50.v3: 2. A new paleomagnetic database for lake and marine sediments

“…In addition, the distribution of power over the full range of frequencies applicable to the geomagnetic field has important statistical properties that can be compared with the output of numerical dynamo simulations (e.g., Davies and Constable 2014;Driscoll and Olson 2009;Olson et al 2012;Sakuraba and Hamano 2007). This spans from measurements of shortterm variations of the present day field, through satellite missions such as Swarm (Olsen et al 2013) and observatory data (Reay et al 2011), to paleomagnetic observations of superchrons, such as the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (e.g., Granot et al 2012;Tarduno et al 2001;Tauxe and Staudigel 2004). investigated the power spectrum over the last 2 Ma (see Figure 1 for a composite spectrum derived from various sources (Jackson et al 2000); 3 ka models CALS3k.3 and ARCH3k.1 ); pfm9k.1a: a 9 ka model ); CALS10k.1b: a 10 ka model ; and PADM2M spanning 2 Ma .…”

Real‐time geomagnetic monitoring for space weather‐related applications: Opportunities and challenges

“…An important part of metadata is persistent identifying information that can, conceivably, allow for retrospective evaluation of the real‐time operational performance. Data files obtained through INTERMAGNET have a metadata header [e.g., Reay et al ., ]. United States institutes supporting magnetometer operations have data plans that prioritize the use of metadata [e.g., National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) , ; National Science Foundation ( NSF ), ; U.S. Geological Survey ( USGS ), ].…”

Operations of the World Data Centre for Geomagnetism, Edinburgh

“…There have been discussions between the WDCs and among the wider geomagnetic community to address this matter and establish a metadata standard for geomagnetic observatory data (e.g., Fischman et al, 2009or Reay et al, 2011. Current metadata standards for geospatial data may act as a guide in establishing a standard, but, as geomagnetic observatory data are timeseries and every aspect of metadata associated with an observatory (up to and including its location) could change with time, it is difficult to determine what to assign a metadata record to.…”