Twenty-two sites, subjected to an IZZI-modified Thellier-Thellier experiment and strict selection criteria, recover a paleomagnetic axial dipole moment (PADM) of 62.24$\pm$ 30.6 ZAm$^2$ in Northern Israel over the Pleistocene (0.012 - 2.58 Ma). Pleistocene data from comparable studies from Antarctica, Iceland, and Hawaii, re-analyzed using the same criteria and age range, show that the Northern Israeli data are on average slightly higher than those from Iceland (PADM = 53.8 $\pm$ 23 ZAm$^2$, n = 51 sites) and even higher than the Antarctica average %\cite{asefaw21} (PADM = 40.3 $\pm$ 17.3 ZAm$^2$, n = 42 sites). Also, the data from the Hawaiian drill core, HSDP2, spanning the last half million years (PADM = 76.7 $\pm$ 21.3 ZAm$^2$, n = 59 sites) are higher than those from Northern Israel. These results, when compared to Pleistocene results filtered from the PINT database (www.pintdb.org) suggest that data from the Northern hemisphere mid-latitudes are on average higher than those from the southern hemisphere and than those from latitudes higher than 60$^{\circ}$N. The weaker intensities found at high (northern and southern) latitudes therefore, cannot be attributed to inadequate spatio-temporal sampling of a time-varying dipole moment or low quality data. The high fields in mid-latitude Northern hemisphere could result from long-lived non-axial dipole terms in the geomagnetic field with episodes of high field intensities occurring at different times in different longitudes. This hypothesis is supported by an asymmetry predicted from the Holocene, 100 kyr, and five million year time-averaged geomagnetic field models.

A fundamental assumption in paleomagnetism is that a geocentric axial dipole (GAD) geomagnetic field structure extends to the ancient field. Global paleodirectional compilations that span 0 - 10 Myr support a GAD dominated field structure with minor non-GAD contributions, however, the paleointensity data over the same period do not. In a GAD field, higher latitudes should preserve higher intensity, but the current database suggests that intensities are independent of latitude. To determine whether the seemingly “low’ intensities from Antarctica reflect the ancient field, rather than low quality data or inadequate temporal sampling, we have conducted a new study of the paleomagnetic field in Antarctica. This study focuses on the paleomagnetic field structure over the Late Neogene. We combine and re-analyze new and published paleodirectional and paleointensity results from the Erebus volcanic province to recover directions from 107 sites that were both thermally and AF demagnetized and then subjected to a set of strict selection criteria and 28 paleointensity estimates from specimens that underwent the IZZI modified Thellier-Thellier experiment and were also subjected to a strict set of selection criteria. The paleopole (205.6$^{\circ}$, 87.1$^{\circ}$) and $\alpha_{95}$ (5.5$^\circ)$ recovered from our paleodirectional study supports the GAD hypothesis and the scatter of the virtual geomagnetic poles is within the uncertainty of that predicted by TK03 paleosecular variation model. Our time averaged field strength estimate, 33.01 $\mu$T $\pm$ 2.59 $\mu$T, is significantly lower than that expected for a GAD field estimated from the present field, but consistent with the long term average field.