Advancements in Planetary Unstructured Equivalent Source Inversion and
Current Circulation Modeling Technology for Earth's Magnetic Field
Abstract
This study presents a novel approach to modeling the Earth’s geomagnetic
field, which originates from electric currents approximately 2,900 km
beneath the surface, crucial for understanding planetary dynamics. We
introduce a method for inverting a planetary-scale equivalent
magnetization source and develop a 3-D equivalent electric current
circulation model from this source, enhancing understanding of these
deep currents. This research signifies the first use of unstructured
tetrahedral magnetization inversion technology for planet-scale magnetic
data interpretation and equivalent source model construction. Validated
through a synthetic case study, the method is applied to the
International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) and SWARM satellite
datasets, comprising 35,768 magnetic vectors from two orbital altitudes.
Employing various mesh configurations, we construct and compare detailed
current source models from these datasets. The effectiveness of our
equivalent current sources is confirmed by comparison with dynamo
research findings, demonstrating significant advancements in geomagnetic
field modeling, particularly in interpretability, and providing novel
insights into Earth’s magnetic phenomena.