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Titel |
Roald Amundsen's contributions to our knowledge of the magnetic fields of the Earth and the Sun |
VerfasserIn |
A. Egeland, C. S. Deehr |
Medientyp |
Artikel
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Sprache |
Englisch
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ISSN |
2190-5010
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Digitales Dokument |
URL |
Erschienen |
In: History of Geo- and Space Sciences ; 2, no. 2 ; Nr. 2, no. 2 (2011-12-10), S.99-112 |
Datensatznummer |
250000610
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Publikation (Nr.) |
copernicus.org/hgss-2-99-2011.pdf |
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Zusammenfassung |
Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) was known as one of the premier polar explorers
in the golden age of polar exploration. His accomplishments clearly document
that he has contributed to knowledge in fields as diverse as ethnography,
meteorology and geophysics. In this paper we will concentrate on his studies
of the Earth's magnetic field. With his unique observations at the polar
station Gjøahavn (geographic coordinates 68°37'10'' N; 95°53'25'' W),
Amundsen was first to demonstrate, without doubt, that the north
magnetic dip-pole does not have a permanent location, but steadily moves its
position in a regular manner. In addition, his carefully calibrated
measurements at high latitudes were the first and only observations of the
Earth's magnetic field in the polar regions for decades until modern polar
observatories were established. After a short review of earlier measurements
of the geomagnetic field, we tabulate the facts regarding his measurements
at the observatories and the eight field stations associated with the
Gjøa expedition. The quality of his magnetic observations may be seen to
be equal to that of the late 20th century observations by subjecting
them to analytical techniques showing the newly discovered relationship
between the diurnal variation of high latitude magnetic observations and the
direction of the horizontal component of the interplanetary magnetic field
(IMF By). Indeed, the observations at Gjøahavn offer a glimpse of the
character of the solar wind 50 yr before it was known to exist. Our
motivation for this paper is to illuminate the contributions of Amundsen as
a scientist and to celebrate his attainment of the South Pole as an
explorer 100 yr ago. |
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