Continuous global geomagnetic field models for the past 3000 years

Several global geomagnetic field models exist for recent decades, but due to limited data availability models for several centuries to millennia are rare. We present a continuous spherical harmonic model for almost 3 millennia from 1000 B.C. to 1800 A.D., based on a dataset of directional archaeo- and paleomagnetic data and axial dipole constraints. The model, named Continuous Archaeomagnetic and Lake Sediment Geomagnetic Model for the last 3k years (CALS3K.1), can be used to predict both the field and secular variation. Comparisons and tests with synthetic data lead to the conclusion that CALS3K.1 gives a good general, large-scale representation of the geomagnetic field, but lacks small-scale structure due to the limited resolution of the sparse dataset. In future applications the model can be used for comparisons with additional, new data for that time span. For better resolved regions, the agreement of data with CALS3K.1 will provide an idea about the general compatibility of the data with the field and secular variation in that region of the world. For poorly covered regions and time intervals we hope to iteratively improve the model by comparisons with and inclusion of new data. Animations and additional snapshot plots of model predictions as well as the model coefficients and a FORTRAN code to evaluate them for any time can be accessed under http://www.mahi.ucsd.edu/cathy/Holocene/holocene.html. The whole package is also stored in the Earthref digital archive at http://www.earthref.org/... (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.