Web Links

There are numerous sources of information on magnetism on the Web today. We have listed a few sites that we know about. This listing is primarily composed of sites not hosted by the U.S. Government. Sites are separated into the following types:

Definitions and Glossaries:

• NGDC's Geomagnetic Field Frequently Asked Questions
• NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center Glossary of Solar-Terrestrial Terms
• NOAA's Space Weather Scales (definitions of the G, S, and R scales for Geomagnetic, Solar radiation, and Radio blackout events).
• Oulu Space Physics Primer on Magnetic Activity Indices
• National Research Council's Space Weather Glossary
• Stanford's Solar Glossary
• The IGC's Gravity and Magnetics Glossary
• RESON's Glossary of Terms (primarily maritime) including NOAA and IHO definitions.
• Russ Rowlett's Dictionary of Units of Measurement (University of North Carolina)
• The Society of Exploration Geophysics (SEG) Dictionary

General Interest:

• The American Geophysical Union's Science for Everyone
• NOVA Science Program "Magnetic Storm"
• The Geomagnetism at the South Pole
• Scientific American - Ask the Experts
• The Great Magnet, the Earth - A fantastic site authored by David Stern about Earth's magnetism beginning with the work of William Gilbert in 1600. (Also hosted at NASA)
• PhysLink.com - Physics and astronomy online education and reference.
• Exploration of Geomagnetism from the University of Mexico
• World Data Center System
• Thesaurus of Geographic Names - A great web resource for locating political (i.e. cities) and geographic (i.e. rivers) features worldwide. Most cities contain information including latitude and longitude
• U.S. Gazetteer Site hosted by the U.S. Census Bureau where you can find information on cities within the U.S. searching on city name or postal code. Information includes the latitude and longitude.
• National Space Science Data Center, NASA This location has software available to generate geomagnetic coordinates for geographic locations.
• Chris M. Goulet's Frequently Asked Questions concerning magnetic declination.
• Western Washington University's paleomagnetism program
• The American Geophysical Union site. An international scientific society dedicated to advancing the understanding of Earth and its environment in space. AGU has several relevant scientific papers on-line, including:
  • Problem with the "Magnetic" Pole Locations on Global Charts
  • How are Geomagnetic Reversals Related to Field Intensity?
  • Studying Ocean Plate Motions with Magnetic Data
• The International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, providing global forums for geophysical scientists to share knowledge, establish standards, resolve issues, and promote international studies and cooperation.
• ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI GEOFISICA geomagnetism and paleomagnetism
• Fact File - Magnetic Compass
• Geological Survey of Norway - Paleomagnetic data

Solar-Terrestrial Physics and Space Weather:

• NOAA's Space Weather Predictiotn Center - Space Weather (SEC), Boulder, USA
• The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Solar-Terrestrial Physics home page.
• World Data Center B for Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Russia.
• World Data Centre C1 for Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
• The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere - a very thorough non-mathematical exposition of solar-terrestrial physics (Also hosted at NASA)
• Leicester University, Ionospheric Physics Group
• International Monitor for Auroral and Geomagnetic Effects.
• Solar Data Analysis Center, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center.
• National Solar Observatory.
• NASA Space Physics home page.
• Hiraiso Solar-Terrestrial Research Centre, Japan.
• Auroral Activity Forecast, Alaska, USA.
• Global Geomagnetic Activity Indices, Gottingen, Germany.
• Current geomagnetic conditions from IPS, in Australia.
• The Secrets of the Polar Aurora

Earth's Magnetism:

• Maps of the IGRF 1900 - 2005 from the National Geophysical Data Center
• The Geological Survey of Canada. Geomagnetism Program, including information on the current location of the North Magnetic Pole.
• The Colorado Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES), has several magnetic field research products, papers, and information available.
• The Geomagnetism Group of the British Geological Survey Edinburgh
• Research models and information on Main Field Magnetism from the Colorado Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) Geomagnetism Group
• Oersted Satellite Mission. The Oersted Satellite, developed by the Danish Meteorological Institute and was launched in 1999, and is making accurate measurements of the magnetic field surrounding the Earth.
• World Data Center B for Solid Earth Geophysics, Russia.
• More than one Century of magnetic observations from Teoloyucan Magnetic Observatory
• The USGS Magnetic Field Monitoring and Charting Program.
• Graphs of the geomagnetic field in real time for Kiruna, Sweden.

Other Data Providers (these links are all off-site from NOAA):

• Canadian Space Agency's CANOPUS Project Main Directory, including real-time magnetometer data from the auroral zone.
• The Geomagnetism Group of the British Geological Survey Edinburgh
• The INTERMAGNET Project
• The US Geological Survey Geomagentism Home
• IAGA's International Service of Geomagnetic Indices (ISGI)
• Geomagnetic Kp Index from GFZ Potsdam
• WDC-C2 Kyoto Dst Index Service
• The Auroral Observatory Tromsø Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences,University of Tromsø
• The Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory, Finland.
• Polar Cap Index from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
• Indices of Global Geomagnetic Activity (links from GFZ)

Some Books on Geomagnetism:

• Langel, R.A., The Main Field, in Geomagnetism, Volume 1, J. Jacobs (Editor), Academic Press, 1987.
• Chapman, S., and J. Bartels, Geomagnetism, Oxford University Press (Clarendon), London and New York, Volumes 1 and 2, 1940.
• Campbell, Wallace H, Introduction to Geomagnetic Fields Cambridge University Press, ISBN 571936, 1997.
• Nelson H. J., L. Hurwitz and D. Knapp, Magnetism of the Earth, Publication 40-1 US Department of Commerce, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1962.
• United States Department of Commerce, Magnetic Poles and the Compass, Serial 726, Washington, 1962 (out of print, reproductions only available).

Historical Geomagnetic Data Reports:

• Information about a digital inventory of historical publications at NGDC can be found here.