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Monthly magnetic data from the Greenwich Magnetic Observatory Yearbooks (1841 – 1925)

Publisher
British Geological Survey (BGS)
Updated
13 August 2026
Topic
Not set
Licence
Not set

Summary

This dataset contains monthly mean magnetic data from the Greenwich Observatory from 1841 to 1925. This dataset is the result of report https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536965/ and is the published product of a study by the British Geological Survey (BGS). The main aim was to create a digital record of the monthly magnetic data stored in the Greenwich Magnetic Observatory yearbooks for 1841 to 1925, for the magnetic research community to use. The report also details the steps taken to convert the inclination and declination, from various published units to standardised units (arcminutes). We have also attempted to convert the horizontal and vertical force values published from 1868 to 1911 from British, and Gauss units to nanoTeslas, however, due to inconsistencies in the scaling factors, and time constraints, we have had limited success. Post-1912 the horizontal and vertical force data has successfully been converted into nanoTesla. Greenwich Magnetic Observatory (GRW) is located at 51°29'N 0°0'E 0m elevation. Observatory info can be found at: https://geomag.bgs.ac.uk/operations/greenwich.html The observatory yearbooks can be found at: http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/data/yearbooks/grw.html A report describing this data set and its construction can be found at: https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536965/

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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
12 August 2026
Harvest GUID
3bc32463-42fe-8d88-e063-3050940ae0be
Dataset reference date (creation)
2025-08-06
Frequency of update
notApplicable
Access constraints
The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.
Responsible party
British Geological Survey (distributor, originator, pointOfContact)
ISO 19139 resource type
nonGeographicDataset
Metadata language
eng

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