Magnetic fields can be measured in various ways. The simplest measurement technique still employed today involves the use of the compass, a device consisting of a permanently magnetized needle that is balanced to pivot in the horizontal plane. In the presence of a magnetic field and in the absence of gravity, a magnetized needle aligns itself exactly along the magnetic field vector. When balanced on a pivot in the presence of gravity, it becomes aligned with a component of the field. In the conventional compass, this is the horizontal component. A magnetized needle may also be pivoted and balanced about a horizontal axis. If this device, called a dip meter, is first aligned in the direction of the magnetic meridian as defined by a compass, the needle lines up with the total field vector and measures the inclination angle I. Finally, it is possible to measure the magnitude of the horizontal field by the oscillations of the compass needle. It can be shown that the period of such an oscillation depends on properties of the needle and the strength of the field.

Magnetic observatories continuously measure and record Earth’s magnetic field at a number of locations. In an observatory of this sort, magnetized needles with reflecting mirrors are suspended by quartz fibres. Light beams reflected from the mirrors are imaged on a photographic negative mounted on a rotating drum. Variations in the field cause corresponding deflections on the negative. Typical scale factors for such observatories correspond to 2–10 nanoteslas per millimetre vertically and 20 millimetres per hour horizontally. A print of the developed negative is called a magnetogram.

Magnetic observatories have recorded data in this manner for well over 100 years. Their magnetograms are photographed on microfilm and submitted to world data centres, where they are available for scientific or practical use. Such applications include the creation of world magnetic maps for navigation and surveying; correction of data obtained in air, land, and sea surveys for mineral and oil deposits; and scientific studies of the interaction of the Sun with Earth.

In recent years other methods of measuring magnetic fields have proved more convenient, and older instruments are gradually being replaced. One such method involves the proton-precession magnetometer, which makes use of the magnetic and gyroscopic properties of protons in a fluid such as gasoline. In this method the magnetic moments of protons are first aligned by a strong magnetic field produced by an external coil. The magnetic field is then turned off abruptly, and the protons try to align themselves with Earth’s field. However, since the protons are spinning as well as magnetized, they precess around Earth’s field with a frequency dependent on the magnitude of the latter. The external coil senses a weak voltage induced by this gyration. The period of gyration is determined electronically with sufficient accuracy to yield a sensitivity between 0.1 and 1.0 nanotesla.

An instrument that complements the proton-precession magnetometer is the flux-gate magnetometer. In contrast to the proton-precession magnetometer, the flux-gate device measures the three components of the field vector rather than its magnitude. It employs three sensors, each aligned with one of the three components of the field vector. Each sensor is constructed from a transformer wound around a core of high-permeability material (e.g., mu-metal). The primary winding of the transformer is excited with a high-frequency (about 5 kilohertz) sine wave. In the absence of any field along the transformer axis, the output signal in the secondary winding consists of only odd harmonics (component frequencies) of the drive frequency. If, however, a field is present, it biases the hysteresis loop for the core in one direction. This causes the core to become saturated sooner in one half of a drive cycle than in the other. This in turn causes the secondary voltage to include all even harmonics as well as odd. The amplitude and phase of the even harmonics are linearly proportional to the component of the field along the axis of the transformer.

Most modern magnetic observatories have both a proton-precession magnetometer and a flux-gate magnetometer mounted on granite pillars in nonmagnetic, temperature-controlled rooms. The outputs from the instruments are electrical signals, and they are digitized and recorded on magnetic media. Many observatories also transmit their data soon after acquisition to central facilities, where they are stored with data from other locations in a large computer database.

Magnetic measurements are often made at locations remote from fixed observatories. Such measurements are commonly part of a survey designed to better define Earth’s main field or to detect anomalies in it. Surveys of this type are routinely carried out by foot, ship, aircraft, and spacecraft. For surveys near Earth’s surface the proton-precession magnetometer is almost always used because it does not need to be precisely aligned. Above Earth’s surface the main field decreases rapidly, and the need for precise alignment is less severe. Thus, flux-gate magnetometers are generally employed on spacecraft. Calculation of components of the vector field in a coordinate system fixed with respect to Earth requires knowledge of the location and orientation of the spacecraft.