The upgrade of base orcadas magnetic observatory

• Main Authors: Cabrera, E, Turbitt, C.W., Rasson, J, Gianibelli, J, Riddick, J.C.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Antarctic; Argentine; South Orkney Islands; Orcadas; Orcadas del Sur; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507222/; https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507222/1/Cabrera_etal_IAGAworkshop_BaseOrcadas_2013.pdf; http://iaga_workshop_2012.roa.es/

In January 2012 new absolute magnetometers, fluxgate variometers and recording hardware to monitor and record changes in the Earth’s magnetic field have been installed at Base Orcadas Observatory, in a collaborative project between the Argentine National Weather Service (SMN), the British Geological Survey (BGS) in Edinburgh and the Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique, Dourbes as part of the INTERMAGNET Digital Geomagnetic Observatory (INDIGO) program. This observatory is located on the Argentine Antarctic Base on the South Orkney Islands (Orcadas del Sur), with the new equipment replacing existing photographic recording equipment which was damaged by an earthquake in 2003. The equipment is designed to meet INTERMAGNET standards for data quality providing a one-minute data set which will be corrected to absolute through a program of absolute observations. The original magnetic observatory at Base Orcadas (the oldest in Antarctica) was installed by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in (SNAE) 1902-04 and recordings of variations in the Earth’s magnetic field have continued since that time at this remote location.