March 3, 2010 Journal article Open Access

Twenty years of geomagnetic field observations at Mario Zucchelli Station (Antarctica)

L. Santarelli; Stefania Lepidi; Antonio Meloni; Lili Cafarella

During the 1986-87 austral summer a geomagnetic observatory was installed at Terra Nova Bay. During the first
years both geomagnetic field time variation monitoring and absolute measurements were carried out only during
summer. Since 1991 variometer measurements are automatically performed throughout the year, while absolute
measurements are still performed only during summer. In spite of this, interesting observations were obtained
during the life (quite long for Antarctica) of the geomagnetic observatory. In particular, this paper briefly
presents some of the most important results: studies on secular variation, daily variation (and its dependence
from solar cycle and seasons) and geomagnetic higher frequency variations, such as geomagnetic pulsations.