How do I express magnetic latitude as geographic latitude/longitude?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the transformation of magnetic latitude and longitude into geographic coordinates, specifically how to express magnetic latitude as geographic latitude and longitude. The scope includes theoretical and mathematical reasoning related to coordinate transformations in the context of Earth's magnetic field.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks to represent magnetic latitude in geographic coordinates for plotting on a map, acknowledging the magnetic pole's wandering over time.
  • Another participant questions the necessity of the transformation, pointing out that the magnetic pole's location changes and may not provide a reliable geographic reference.
  • A participant mentions having a model to calculate the geomagnetic pole's position and refers to a paper for transformation methods but expresses difficulty with calculating magnetic longitude.
  • Another reply suggests that there is no one-to-one mapping between magnetic and geographic coordinates, indicating that the same magnetic latitude can correspond to different geographic locations.
  • This participant proposes a mathematical approach involving transformation matrices to convert between geographic and magnetic coordinates, although they do not provide specific calculations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the validity or utility of transforming magnetic coordinates into geographic ones. There are competing views regarding the reliability of such transformations and the complexity involved in the calculations.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the limitations of the transformation due to the magnetic pole's movement and the lack of a straightforward mapping between the two coordinate systems. The discussion also reflects uncertainty regarding the specific mathematical steps needed for the transformation.

erotavlas
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For a circle of latitude on the Earth centred on the magnetic pole, how do I represent that in geographic coordinates (lat and long), centred on the geographic pole?
 
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It's not clear why you want to do this. The magnetic pole location is subject to wandering w.r.t. the geographical coordinate system over time.
 
I understand that it wanders, and I have the model to calculate the correct position of geomagnetic pole at a given time.

WHat i need to do it plot the points of magnetic latitude and longitude on a map. So I'm trying to transform them into geographic coordinate system.

Anyway I found the transformation in this paper (page 3)
http://kho.unis.no/doc/Sigernes_Oval.pdf

But I'm stuck on the magnetic longitude calculation
 
You may be misunderstanding what SK was saying. Look at this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_Declination#Change_of_declination_over_time_and_space
Looking at the illustrations, it should be obvious to you that there is no 1-to-1 mapping between magnetic coordinates and geographical ones. That is two people thousands of miles apart may measure the same magnetic latitude. It isn't a good predictor of where you are, in general. It is best used locally.
I am not motivated to actually do the algebra to give you the answer, but this tells you how to get the answer.
Any point on the surface of a sphere can be represented by two coordinates which are transformed in a two by two matrix into any other (arbitrary) pair of coordinates. In 3 space, R is constant (approx) so what I would do to solve this problem is convert figure out the two matrices which convert geographical coordinates to spherical φ and θ, and do the same with your magnetic coordinates. Then figure out the inverses and multiply the Inverse of one by the other and you'll have the two transformation matices.
In other words given (lat, long) there is a 2x2 matrix which will convert them to (θ,φ). And there is a matrix which will convert (θ,φ) to (mag_lat,long) ((hint the final matrix will have for long (assuming geograph and geomagnet are the same) the row 0...1)). So, all you need figure is the values of lat and long which will transform to mag_lat. It will be composed of sin() and cos() functions of the (θ,φ) coordinates.
 

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