About the observatory
The Surlari National Geomagnetic Observatory “Liviu Constantinescu”, more often known by its short name Surlari Geomagnetic Observatory, was founded in 1943 as a research unit of the Geological Institute of Romania. It is located in the Surlari forest, about 35 km NE of Bucharest, in an area protected from magnetic disturbances between the Cociovaliștei and Vlăsia valleys.
The observatory is a center for fundamental research in geomagnetism, with applications to geomagnetic prospecting; it also functions as a reference station for the compilation of national geomagnetic maps. The existing measuring equipment provides values defined as national magnetic standards and can also be used to calibrate other instruments for magnetic determinations for scientific, prospective or other applications. Internationally, the observatory is part of the global network of geomagnetic observatories INTERMAGNET, which studies the structure and phenomenology of the planetary magnetic field.v
Types of activities
The main permanent objective of the Observatory is the continuous and long-term recording of temporal variations of the Earth’s magnetic field vector, as well as the high-precision measurement of its absolute values, as a reporting basis for the records.
Research directions:
- The calm diurnal variation is the subject of ionospheric studies and serves as the basis for developing the necessary corrections for magnetic prospecting work. Chromospheric eruptions (SFE), storm disturbances and sudden storm onsets (SSC).
- Bay-shaped disturbances, whose morphology is affected by both the ionosphere and the properties of the Earth’s crust.
- The secular variation and the normal geomagnetic field are monitored in the national network of stations based in Surlari, with important applications in the assembly of magnetic maps at a national scale by reporting them to a unitary level and bringing them to the same epoch, as well as for the separation of magnetic anomalies. These data are also used in the development of planetary geomagnetic models (WMM, IGRF). Measurements in this network are reiterated periodically.
- Characterization of magnetic activity by determining global indices for the objective knowledge of magnetic disturbances and estimating their effects on electrical energy transmission systems, radiocommunication networks or even on the biosphere.
- Recording and studying currents induced in the subsurface by geomagnetic variations (telluric currents).
- Measurements of comparison of recording levels with other European observatories for calibration of national standards and correlation of transnational maps.
- Study of the possibilities of using geomagnetic phenomena as possible prediction factors for major earthquakes.
- Using long time series from Surlari and magnetic declination and inclination values extrapolated from the past to create the Bauer diagram, image compared with similar ones obtained in London, Paris, Rome and Dusheti.
- Determination of the magnetic susceptibility of rocks and its anisotropy, as well as determination of the density of rock and sediment samples collected from the field.
- Determining the values of the remanent geomagnetic field, both in intensity and orientation, in order to establish the age of geological formations, in accordance with the International Magneto-Stratigraphic Scale.
- Determination of the magnetic field declination and estimation of its variation over time in the area of airport facilities and compensation platforms of aircraft manufacturers and repairers. This information is useful for the purpose of calibrating the navigation equipment on board aircraft (in the case of compensation platforms) and for the purpose of calculating the correction of the aircraft position during landing maneuvers.
- The participation of the Surlari Geomagnetic Observatory in the international program for complex monitoring of the planetary magnetic field (INTERMAGNET) contributes to the periodic reevaluation of its model by establishing the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF).
