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The magnetic equator is the line where the inclination is zero (the magnetic field is horizontal). The global definition of the Earth's field is based on a mathematical model. If a line is drawn through the center of the Earth, parallel to the moment of the best-fitting magnetic dipole, the two positions where it intersects the Earth's surface ...
If the Earth's magnetic fields were exactly dipolar, the north pole of a magnetic compass needle would point directly at the North Geomagnetic Pole. In practice, it does not because the geomagnetic field that originates in the core has a more complex non-dipolar part, and magnetic anomalies in the Earth's crust also contribute to the local field.
The equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle—meaning, one whose plane passes through the center of the globe. The plane of Earth's equator, when projected outwards to the celestial sphere , defines the celestial equator .
The poles of the dipole are located close to Earth's geographic poles. At the equator of the magnetic field, the magnetic-field strength at the surface is 3.05 × 10 −5 T, with a magnetic dipole moment of 7.79 × 10 22 Am 2 at epoch 2000, decreasing nearly 6% per century (although it still remains stronger than its long time average). [146]
The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed to rotate in three dimensions, it will point straight down).
The range of dip is from -90 degrees (at the South Magnetic Pole) to +90 degrees (at the North Magnetic Pole). [3] Contour lines along which the dip measured at Earth's surface is equal are referred to as isoclinic lines. The locus of the points having zero dip is called the magnetic equator or aclinic line. [4]
The magnetic meridian is an equivalent imaginary line connecting the magnetic south and north poles and can be taken as the horizontal component of magnetic force lines along the surface of the Earth. [11] Therefore, a compass needle will be parallel to the magnetic meridian.
It is the line that marks the theoretical halfway point between the equator and the South Pole. The true halfway point is 16.2 km (10.1 mi) south of this parallel because Earth is not a perfect sphere, but bulges at the equator and is flattened at the poles. [1] Unlike its northern counterpart, almost all