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MAGNETOSPHERE

From Observatories:

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A simple compass detects the direction that Earth's magnetic field is pointing. We can use this to find North. Scientists measure the strength and direction of Earth's field with sensitive instruments called magnetometers. Scientists put 'magnetic observatories' all over the world, but most are in the polar regions of Earth where the field is known to change rapidly.

This guide will help you use magnetic observatory data to keep track of magnetic disturbances. Magnetic disturbances often indicate that a solar storm has occured. Strong magnetic disturbances can cause brilliant auroras that we can easily see on the ground.

You will be using real-time data from magnetic observatories located around the world. These data are updated every few minutes so that you can see exactly how Earth's field is changing right now. On the following pages you will learn how to interpret observatory data. If you are just Getting Started, you will learn to use the Kp Index and graphs from Kiruna, Sweden and Baker Lake, Canada. It is always valuable to compare data from a variety of observatories. Therefore, when you become comfortable with the easier data available in Getting Started, you might want More Advanced Observations. More Advanced Observations teaches you to interpret data from observatories in the entire network of the Geological Survey of Canada, Alaska, Tromso, Norway, and Tixie Bay, Russia.

TEACHER'S NOTE

For Grades 4-6 the Kp is probably sufficient. Students only need to interpret a bar graph, and professionals do all of the more complex interpretation of the amount of change in the magnetic field. For Grades 6-8 it is probably sufficient to use Kp, Kiruna and Baker Lake. You will have to use your judgment about More Advanced Observations. The first link is to all of the observatories in the Geological Survey of Canada, including Baker Lake. This full page of magnetograms from 12 observatories can be overwhelming, but the graph type is not new. Magnetograms from Alaska and Tromso show slightly different information, and to understand the connection between the graphs from Baker Lake and Alaska requires a slight understanding of vectors. For high school students the study of vectors is appropriate and the more advanced observations provides a nice application of this concept.

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