Geomagnetic Field Line Integral Measurement Near Carnarvon, 1959

146 site measurements of the horizontal geomagnetic field intensity and direction were taken around a 3620 km² closed circuit near Carnarvon, Western Australia. This 1959 experiment attempted a direct measurement of the line integral, or curl, of the Earth's magnetic field. The result was not significantly different from zero, with an uncertainty larger than the global average magnitude of curl B.

Use Cases

• Testing Maxwell's equations in geophysical contexts based on the line integral measurement.
• Analyzing regional magnetic field homogeneity based on measurements from 146 sites.
• Assessing crustal magnetism influences based on data from an area selected for small local irregularities.
• Comparing experimental field curl results with global magnetic chart averages.

Strengths

• Provides a specific experimental result from a defined 3620 km² area.
• Contains measurements from 146 distinct geographic sites, suggesting spatial detail.

Limitations

• Column names and data structure are unknown, limiting immediate analysis.
• Metadata for size, rows, license, and author is consistently missing across all sources.
• The dataset appears to be a historical record (1959) with updates only to platform metadata.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Field measurements of magnetic intensity and direction at 146 sites.

Time Range

1959

Freshness

Last platform update recorded on 2026-05 14.

Geography

Near Carnarvon, Western Australia