GEOMAGNETIC CHARTS

Following are magnetic charts showing the various components of the Earth's magnetic field in different projections. If you're looking for values at a specific site, please consider using the calculator located on the Models page.

	Declination	Inclination	Intensity	Horizontal	Vertical
Mercator
North Pole
South Pole
North America
World (Large)

References

• Barraclough, D. R., 1974. Spherical Harmonic Analysis of the Geomagnetic Field for Eight Epochs between 1600 and 1910, Geophys. J. R. Astr. Soc., 36, 497-513.
• IAGA Division V, Working Group 8, [Including Program member Quinn, J. M.], 2000. International Geomagnetic Reference Field, 2000, Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter., 120, 39-42, Pure Appl. Geophys., 157, 1797-1802, Geophys. J. Int., 141, 259-262.
• Macmillan, S. & Quinn, J. M. , 2000. The 2000 revision of the Joint UK/US Geomagnetic Field Models and the IGRF candidate model, Earth Planets Space , 52 , 1149-1162.
• Macmillan, S. & Quinn, J. M., 2000. The derivation of the World Magnetic Model 2000, Brit. Geol. Surv. Tech. Rept. WM/00/17R.

Limitations

The user of magnetic-field models and charts must be aware of their limitations. Since the magnetic field is extremely complicated, in both space and time, magnetic-field models are, by practical necessity, something of an approximation of the actual magnetic field. For example, global models of the field, such as the IGRF, do not account for very local magnetization. Indeed, there is no way that they could, since many geological formations, and for that matter, many rocks, are magnetized, if only partially. Moreover, the models do not fully account for magnetic-field ingredients generated by ionospheric and magnetospheric electric currents, since these can create essentially unpredictable, localized and transient perturbations to the main field, particularly at high latitudes. Despite these qualifiers, because magnetic-field models and charts are of such enormous practical utility, they are provided here as a service to the public.