Instrumental Determination of the Earth’s South Magnetic Pole Position During the Round-the-World Antarctic Expedition on Board the Russian Navy ORV Admiral Vladimirsky

Abstract

Abstract—The round-the-world Antarctic expedition of the Russian Navy that took place from December 2019 to June 2020 on board the Russian Navy oceanographic research vessel (ORV) Admiral Vladimirsky was supported by the Russian Geographical Society and was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica and the 250th birthday anniversary of Admiral Ivan Kruzenshtern. One of the expedition’s main objectives was to instrumentally determine the position of the South Magnetic Pole (SMP) whose latest location had been measured more than twenty years before. Planning of magnetometric research, its monitoring and processing of obtained data were carried out by members of the Chair of Geophysical Methods of the Earth’s Crust Study of the MSU Department of Geology and the Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics. Based on a set of instrumental determinations (modular proton-precession differential magnetometers, vector three-component flux-gate magnetometers, the ship compass), the SMP position was measured to a precision of ±5 km. Proceeding from the 1980 and 2000 instrumental SMP determinations, it is proven that over the past 40 years, the SMP has been shifting at a consistent velocity in the same direction.