“A view from geomagnetic observation points along the 80°S parallel in Antarctica”

Abstract

Contributions to the knowledge of the Earth’s magnetism from polar regions is extremely important to understand themagnetospheric dynamics because local field lines reach extreme magnetospheric regions where the interactions with the solar wind occurs.The Earth’s magnetic field shows temporal variations which go from seconds to hundreds of thousands of years.We study low frequency fluctuations(approximately in the Pc5 range, ~1-7 mHz). INGV has a consolidatedexperience inAntarctic research activitiesand in management of permanent geomagnetic observatories as Mario Zucchelli (MZS, at Terra Nova Bay)and Concordia (DMC, at DomeC) stations, as well as temporary installations as Talos Dome (TLD),installed during 2007-2008 Antarctic campaign and working for a few months.The availability of simultaneous measurements from MZS, TLD andSBA (Scott Base), allows to make an interesting comparison in that the three stations are located approximately at the same geomagnetic latitude (~ 80°S), with approximately 2 hours total displacement in magnetic local time. This location is particularly useful to study the signal propagation in the azimuthal direction.We review the results obtained so far from the analysis of diurnal variation, coherence, power and propagation direction of Pc5 pulsations observed along the 80°S geomagnetic parallel, underlying the importance of such observational point, in anticipation of the future installation of a new geomagnetic station at TLD.