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CARISMA
Wednesday, 26 September 2007

The CARISMA magnetometer array.
The CARISMA magnetometer array.
CARISMA (Canadian Array for Realtime Investigations of Magnetic Activity) is the magnetometer element of the Canadian Geospace Monitoring (CGSM) project.  It is the continuation and expansion of an original magnetometer array that was part of the CANOPUS ground based instrumentation array.  The data from the array has contributed to the publication of hundreds of scientific papers and helped to establish CARISMA as an essential international resource for magnetospheric physics.

The CARISMA network is an array of magnetometers—devices that are used to measure disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field, caused by activity occurring in a region of space near the Earth, known as the magnetosphere.  From these measurements, the nature of the event can be determined, and, by using a distributed array of magnetometers, more information can be calculated about their time and spatial evolution.

The site installed at Taloyoak.
The site installed at Taloyoak.
The CARISMA array spans a range of longitude from Dawson City, YK (near the Alaska border, 220.89°E) to Rankin Inlet, NU (267.89°E) and a range of latitude from Taloyoak, NU (69.54°N) to Osakis, MN, USA (45.87°N).  Currently most of these sites are on a North-South meridian known as the 'Churchill Line'.  By arranging the magnetometers in this way, it is possible to investigate the radial propagation of events, because the field measured at higher latitudes is affected by regions further from the Earth than those measured at lower latitudes.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 January 2008 )
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The Earth's Magnetic Field
Monday, 10 September 2007

Iron filings in the presence of a bar magnets magnetic field
Iron filings align themselves along the magnetic field lines of a bar magnet.
Magnetic fields are generated in the area around magnetic materials and can cause forces to act on other magnetic materials.  These materials can be magnets or electric currents (more generally, moving charged particles).  This field can be ‘seen’ by spreading iron filings around a bar magnet.  The filings will align themselves with the magnetic field.
Last Updated ( Friday, 21 September 2007 )
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Fluxgate Magnetometers 101
Tuesday, 11 September 2007

Magnetic Saturation

The most important aspect of a fluxgate magnetometer is the core around which the coils of wire are wound.  This is because the fluxgate exploits a principle known as magnetic saturation.

Last Updated ( Friday, 21 September 2007 )
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