In order to secure consistent accuracy for the magnetic survey, the Geographical Survey Institute decided to construct a new standard magnetometer in 1956. Since the G. S. I. field magnetometer after the priciple proposed by one of the writers already has shown sufficient absolute accuracy in the measurement of direction of the geomagnetic vector, the writers aimed to develop an absolute standard instrument measuring only the horizontal intensity.
The principle of the instrument, the G. S. I. Standard Magnetometer, is illustrated in Fig. 1. It consists of two coaxial and concentric coils, the primary standard and the auxiliary, which are placed horizontally on a theodolite and almost in the geomagnetic meridian and, in the center of these coils, a rotating coil-detector whose rotating axis is vertical to the horizon. The primary standard is wound on a precisely completed bobbin of Telex glass and its constant is computed from the coil dimensions measured precisely. It cancels most part of the horizontal intensity (about 99%) by passing through it the constant electric current regulated with the electrical standards.
The auxiliary coil cancels the residual field completely by adjusting the current through it and nullifying the output of the rotating detector. The intensity of the current is measured with a rugged potentiometer, the precision of which is about few parts of 104. The effects of erroneous settings of the axes of the coils and the theodolite are made negligible by taking the average of the observed values corresponding to two positions of the theodolite differing by 180°in azimuth from each other, and by adding the level correction deduced from the readings of a level attached to the theodolite and parallel to the axes of the Helmholtz-Gaugain coils.
The reliability of the absolute value of this magnetometer depends mainly on the absolute value of the coil constant of the primary standard and those of the electrical standards. Examining carefully all error sources, it is concluded that the G. S. I, Standard Magnetometer secures the absolute accuracy of 1 × 10
-5 in measuring the horizontal intensity of the geomagnetic field.
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