International geomagnetic reference field: The seventh generation

Abstract

A seventh-generation revision of the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) was adopted by the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) at the XXI General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in July 1995. The new spherical harmonic models adopted are based on weighted averages of candidate models submitted by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the Russian Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionospheric, and Radio Wave Propagation - IZMIRAN, and jointly by the US Naval Oceanographic Office and the British Geological Survey. The revised IGRF specifies the Earth's main field from 1900 to 2000 and is declared to be definitive from 1945 to 1990. This paper lists the IGRF coefficients, describes the derivation of the new IGRF models, and examines aspects of the IGRF's accuracy, continuity, and behaviour during this century.