Real time collection of geomagnetic field data from northern near-pole region Original Research Article

In April 2000, we started operating real-time collection of geomagnetic field data from Eureka, Canada in the northern near-pole region. The purpose of this project is to monitor magnetic activity in this region for space weather forecasting, to use as an index of the magnetospheric electric field similar to the PC index produced based on data from Thule (now Qaanaaq) and Vostok. The data from Eureka is received at our laboratory almost continuously. A web page for monitoring geomagnetic field variations at Eureka has been set up using this data. We also examined the characteristics of the geomagnetic field variations around the near geomagnetic pole regions using Euraka and Qaanaaq data. We found a very strong correlation between the magnetic field variations at Eureka and those at Qaanaaq except during the day in the summer months. This clearly corresponds to the variations in the solar zenith angle. Our results suggest that magnetic field variations in the near-geomagnetic pole regions are quite uniform during periods of darkness.