References

HGSS

History of Geo- and Space Sciences

HGSS

Hist. Geo Space. Sci.

2190-5029

Copernicus Publications

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/hgss-4-35-2013

The first aeromagnetic survey in the Arctic: results of the Graf Zeppelin airship flight of 1931

Raspopov

O. M.

¹ Sokolov

S. N.

¹ Demina

I. M.

¹ Pellinen

² Petrova

A. A.

St. Petersburg Filial of N.V. Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation of RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia

Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, 00101 Helsinki, Finland

13 03 2013

4 1 35 46

2013

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/4/35/2013/hgss-4-35-2013.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/4/35/2013/hgss-4-35-2013.pdf

In July of 1931, on the eve of International Polar Year II, an Arctic flight of the Graf Zeppelin rigid airship was organized. This flight was a realization of the idea of F. Nansen, who advocated the use of airships for the scientific exploration of the Arctic territories, which were poorly studied and hardly accessible at that time. The route of the airship flight was Berlin – Leningrad – Arkhangelsk – Franz Josef Land – Severnaya Zemlya – the Taimyr Peninsula – Novaya Zemlya – Arkhangelsk – Berlin. One of scientific goals of the expedition was to measure the H and D geomagnetic field components. Actually, the first aeromagnetic survey was carried out in the Arctic during the flight. After the expedition, only preliminary results of the geomagnetic measurements, in which an anomalous behavior of magnetic declination in the high-latitude part of the route was noted, were published. Our paper is concerned with the first aeromagnetic measurements in the Arctic and their analysis based on archival and modern data on the magnetic field in the Barents and Kara sea regions. It is shown that the magnetic field along the flight route had a complicated structure, which was not reflected in the magnetic charts of those times. The flight was very important for future development of aero- and ground-based magnetic surveys in the Arctic, showing new methods in such surveys.

References 1

Eckener, H.: My Zeppelins. Translated from German by Douglas Robinson, London, Putnam & Co. Ltd., 1958, New York, Arno Press, 1980.

Ellsworth, L. and Smith, E. H.: Report of preliminary results of the aeroarctic expedition with "Graf Zeppelin", 1931, The Geographical Review, V. XXII, The American Geographical Society, New York, 61–82, 1932.

Fisk, H. W.: Isomagnetic charts of the Arctic Area. Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union, Twelfth Ann. Meeting, 30 April and 1 May 1931, National Research Council, Washington, 134–139, 1931.

Gromov, B. V.: Wreck of Arktika, Moscow, Molodaya Gvardiya, 180 pp., 1932.

Grotewahl, M.: Bericht über die Versuchsfahrt des Bidlingmaier'schen Doppelkompasses mit dem Luftschiff Graf Zeppelin, Terr. Magn. Atmos. Electr., 35, 226–230, 1930.

Krenkel, E.: RAEM is My Callsign, Moscow Progress, 364 pp., 1978.

Ljungdahl, G. S.: Preliminary report of the magnetic observations made during the aeroarctic expedition of the Graf Zeppelin, 1931, Terr. Magn. Atmos. Electr., 36, 349–355, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/TE036i004p00349">https://doi.org/10.1029/TE036i004p00349</a>, 1931.

Nansen, F.: The proposed Arctic expedition in the Graf Zeppelin, Geogr. J., 1, 67–70, 1930.

Petrov, O. V., Morozov, A. F., Lipilin, A. V., Kolesnikov, V. I, Litvinova, T. P., and Myasnikov, F. V.: Chart of anormalous magnetic field (\Delta T)a of Russia and adjacent water areas, Scale 1 : 5 000 000, VSEGEI, 2004.

Results of the Magnetic & Meteorological Observations made at the Abinger Magnetic Station, Surrey and Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Respectively in the year 1931, Under the direction of Sir Frank Dyson, London, H.M.S.O., 1933.

Results of Geophysical and Solar Observation. 1931, Stonyhurst College Observatory, Blackburn, Tomas Briggs Ltd, 1933.

Weinberg, B. P. and Rogachev, I. M.: Catalogue of magnetic determinations in USSR and adjacent countries. Part III. Determination made from 1926 to 1930, Central Geophysical Observatory, Leningrad, 1933.

Wilkins, H.: Under the North Pole: The Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition, New York, Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 347 pp., 1931.

Wichman, E.: Two routes to the arctic: under the ice with the nautilus, through the air with the Graf Zeppelin, ARCHIVE, A Journal of Undergraduate History, V. 4, University of Wisconsin-Madison, History department, 24–41, November 2002.

Zhulina, E. M., Kishcha, P. V, and Shchuka, T. I.: Statistical model of auroral absorption at different magnetic activities, in: Ionosfernyye Issled, No. 46, Moscow, 81–85, 1989.