Magnetic Valley: A Knowledge Transfer Project

The knowledge transfer project called "Magnetic Valley" that was launched in 2009 is presented below. This project is funded by the Belgian government to investigate and develop products and services that will improve the socio-economic development in the area around the "Centre de Physique du Globe de l'IRM"

An intercomparison campaign of ground-based UV-Visible measurements of NO2, BrO, and OClO slant columns. I. Methods of analysis and results for NO2

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Fog-based automatic true north detection for absolute magnetic declination measurement

Absolute magnetic measurements are of great importance in magnetic observatories. They allow not only instrument calibration but also data quality checking. They require the vertical and the geographic or true north as reference directions, usually determined by means of a level and by pointing an azimuth mark, respectively. We present here a novel system able to measure the direction of the magnetic field and of the vertical and true north. A design of a north seeker is proposed taking into account sensor bias as well as misalignment errors. Different methods are derived from this model and measurement results are presented. A measurement test at high latitude is also shown

An intercomparison campaign of ground-based UV-visible measurements of NO₂, BrO, and OClO slant columns: Methods of analysis and results for NO₂

International audienceWithin the framework of the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC), an intercomparison campaign of ground-based zenith-sky viewing UV-visible spectrometers was held at the Andøya Rocket Range (69°N, 16°E) at Andenes, Norway, from February 12 to March 8, 2003. The chosen site is classified as a complementary NDSC site. Eight groups from seven countries participated in the campaign which focused on the measurements of slant columns of NO2, BrO, and OClO. This first campaign publication concentrates on measurements of the NO2 slant columns. Different analysis criteria were investigated during the campaign. These included the use of fitting parameters as chosen by each group to provide what they considered to be optimized retrievals. Additional sets of parameters, imposed for all the groups, were also used, including the wavelength interval, absorption cross sections, and species fitted. Each instrument's results were compared to the measurements of selected reference instruments, whose choice was based on a technique combining regression analysis and examination of the residuals with solar zenith angle. Considering the data obtained during the whole campaign for solar zenith angles between 75° and 95°, all instruments agreed within 5% in the case of NO2 with imposed analysis parameters in the 425–450 nm region. Measurements agree less well when retrieving the NO2 slant columns in the 400–418 nm region or when using parameters optimized by each investigator for their instrument