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On the possibility of producing definitive magnetic observatory data within less than one year

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Abstract

Geomagnetic observatory data are fundamental in geomagnetic field studies and are widely used in other applications. Often they are combined with satellite and ground survey data. Unfortunately, the observatory definitive data are only available with a time lag ranging from several months up to more than a year. The reason for this lag is the annual production of the final calibration values, i.e. baselines that are used to correct preliminary data from continuously recording magnetometers. In this paper, we will show that the preparation of definitive geomagnetic data is possible within a calendar year and presents an original method for prompt and automatic estimation of the observatory baselines. The new baselines, obtained in a mostly automatic manner, are compared with the baselines reported on INTERMAGNET DVDs for the 2009–2011 period. The high quality of the baselines obtained by the proposed method indicates its suitability for data processing in fully automatic observatories when automated absolute instruments will be deployed at remote sites.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive suggestions that helped us to improve the quality of the paper. The results presented in this paper rely on the data collected at magnetic observatories. We thank the national institutes that support them and INTERMAGNET for promoting high standards of magnetic observatory practice (http://www.intermagnet.org). This work was supported by the DAAD (No. 91529536-50015537) and ERASMUS (No. ERA-2013-166) exchange programme.

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Correspondence to Igor Mandić.

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Mandić, I., Korte, M. On the possibility of producing definitive magnetic observatory data within less than one year. Acta Geophys. 65, 275–286 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-017-0026-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-017-0026-9

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