Geomagnetic modeling by optimal recursive filtering

The results of a preliminary study to determine the feasibility of using Kalman filter techniques for geomagnetic field modeling are given. Specifically, five separate field models were computed using observatory annual means, satellite, survey and airborne data for the years 1950 to 1976. Each of the individual field models used approximately five years of data. These five models were combined using a recursive information filter (a Kalman filter written in terms of information matrices rather than covariance matrices.) The resulting estimate of the geomagnetic field and its secular variation was propogated four years past the data to the time of the MAGSAT data. The accuracy with which this field model matched the MAGSAT data was evaluated by comparisons with predictions from other pre-MAGSAT field models. The field estimate obtained by recursive estimation was found to be superior to all other models.