THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SECULAR CHANGE AND THE NON-DIPOLE FIELDS

Abstract

Using airborne, ground, and repeat magnetic observations in Canada compiled in the isomagnetic and isoporic charts for epoch 1955.0, the drift and decay contributions of the non-dipole field to the observed secular variation have been estimated. The drift rates which produce the minimum residual secular variation were found to be unusually small. It is then confirmed, using the longitude displacement method and isomagnetic data only, that the westward drift of the non-dipole field in recent years in Canada is significantly smaller than the world-wide average. These results clearly demonstrate the large local fluctuations which occur in westward drift.The two different methods were applied to obtain relationships between the Gaussian coefficients in the spherical harmonic analyses of the earth's main field and the secular variation. Calculations show that both methods give the accepted world-wide average value of westward drift, that one half of the world-wide secular variation is produced by westward drift, and in general decay terms are unimportant.