Geoscience Reference
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Figure 7.1
British naval of cer and
polar explorer, Sir James Clark Ross
(b. 1800). A pioneer in the study of
Earth's magnetic field, he is shown here
with a dip circle, an instrument used to
measure the angle between the Earth's
magnetic field and the horizon.
Although he discovered the North
Magnetic Pole, the southern pole
remained elusive. That discovery went
to the Australian geologist Sir Douglas
Mawson in 1909.
course, led to organised magnetic observations. Beginning in the
first half of the
nineteenth century and continuing ever since, observations of Earth
'
is magnetic
components, were begun on a
more-or-less regular basis in Europe (especially in Germany under the strong
guidance of Carl Frederick Gauss and Wilhelm Weber), and in Britain by Edward
Sabine. These observations persuaded a number of eminent natural scientists to
promote, in the early nineteenth century, global studies of the Earth
field, including the three vector
-
directional
-
'
s
field and
its variations since little was understood of the
field and its distribution across
the world. For example, Sabine was instrumental in the studies of magnetism
during British expeditions with James Clark Ross to the Canadian Arctic, where Ross
located the North Magnetic Pole in 1831. Between 1839 and 1843, Ross explored
in Antarctica where studies of the Earth
s magnetism were part of the exploration
objectives that also included geography, geology, botany and other subjects. Ross did
not reach the South Magnetic Pole.
'
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