Terrestrial Magnetism: Historical Perspectives and Future Prospects

Abstract

This collection of reviews marks the state of the art of geomagnetic data collection, modelling, and interpretation at a time of unprecedented advances in all 3 facets of the subject. For the first time we have excellent satellite data with the prospect of more to come, vast improvements in laboratory techniques, and opportunities to use large scale computing to model the data. In the past, research has been conducted by the separate disciplines largely in isolation; we can hope the subject has now matured enough for progress to be made by genuine collaboration between theoreticians and experimentalists. The purpose of this chapter is to set the historical setting, and I have chosen a starting date of 1980, when vector satellite data first became available and stimulated many new advances in the subject. We can hope for a similar or better stimulus in the next decade.

The Earth’s Magnetic Field in the Space Age: An Introduction to Terrestrial Magnetism

“…As noted by Gubbins (2010) in the historical perspective opening the present series of reviews, MAGSAT provided the first high resolution maps of the field of internal origin, revealed the potential of the historical data accumulated so far, and prompted the production of the first field maps at the core surface as a function of time and their inversion in terms of flows at the top of the core (e.g., Bloxham et al 1989). This was a crucial step towards better understanding the dynamics governing the core magnetic field.…”

“…Although the reader might be tempted to directly jump to specific reviews, we wish to stress that all papers are well worth reading in sequence, starting from the historical perspective given by Gubbins (2010). The first review to follow, by Matzka et al (2010), gives an observer's account of the way magnetic data are acquired, with special emphasis on the modern global network of geomagnetic observatories.…”

The Earth’s Magnetic Field in the Space Age: An Introduction to Terrestrial Magnetism

“…However it is the advent of high precision magnetometry from space, initiated by the launch of the US MAGSAT mission in 1980, that has truly opened up a new era in the investigation of the Earth's magnetic field. As noted by Gubbins (2010) in the historical perspective opening the present series of reviews, MAGSAT provided the first high resolution maps of the field of internal origin, revealed the potential of the historical data accumulated so far, and prompted the production of the first field maps at the core surface as a function of time and their inversion in terms of flows at the top of the core (e.g., Bloxham et al 1989). This was a crucial step towards better understanding the dynamics governing the core magnetic field.…”