Work

Earth’s crustal magnetic field observed remotely from space

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Magnetized rocks in Earth’s crust produce the small-scale structure of the geomagnetic field. This crustal field provides important information about the composition, structure, and evolution of Earth’s lithosphere, but is challenging to map because small spatial scales attenuate rapidly with distance and 1 global magnetic observations below typical satellite altitudes are scarce. Here we demonstrate that crustal magnetic field structures can be mapped using a novel remote sensing technique that measures the magnetic field near 80 km from an orbital altitude of approximately 600 km. Using observations from the threesatellite Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) constellation, we show that known crustal field structures are clearly resolved in the remotely sensed magnetic field. These observations establish a new capability for mapping Earth’s crustal magnetic field from space, with the potential to provide new constraints on lithospheric magnetic structure.

DOI: 10.22541/essoar.15011755/v1

Authors: K. M. Laundal, R. Mesquita, V. G. Merkin, M. Madelaire, F. Werner, J. S. Garretson, G. Starr, D. C. Stephens, B. Wolven, W. H. Swartz, J.-H. Yee, S. Misra, M. J. Schwartz, S. Padmanabhan, P. K. Kangaslahti, N. Mosavi-Hoyer, Karl M. Laundal

Institutions: University of Bergen, Technical University of Denmark, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies

Subfield: Geophysics

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7225311996

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