The 9th-Generation International Geomagnetic Reference Field

The International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy has recently released the 9th-Generation International Geomagnetic Reference Field—the latest version of a standard mathematical description of the Earth's main magnetic field used widely in studies of the Earth's deep interior, its crust and its ionosphere and magnetosphere. The coefficients were recently finalized at the XXIII General Assembly of the International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy, held at Sapporo in Japan in 2003 July. The IGRF is the product of a huge collaborative effort between magnetic field modellers and the institutes involved in collecting and disseminating magnetic field data from satellites and from observatories and surveys around the world.