I.

OVERVIEW

This program computes the magnetic field elements of the World Magnetic
Model 2015. They are: total field strength, horizontal field strength,
northerly component, easterly component, downward component,
declination, and inclination. Required inputs are: position including
altitude, and date. When the position is entered by UTM coordinates,
the magnetic declination is referred to the UTM grid, as an auxiliary
calculation.

Go to http://ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM for more information.

II. INPUT

1. Enter the position in one of three systems:

Deg/Min/Sec. Enter the longitude as degrees, minutes, and

seconds, (all positive) and choose East or West to indicate the
direction from Greenwich. Enter the latitude as degrees, minutes
and seconds (all positive) and choose North or South to indicate
above or below the Equator.

Degrees. Enter the longitude and latitude in decimal degrees

with a leading minus sign for western longitudes or southern
latitudes.

UTM. The two UTM coordinates for a point of interest are called
its "Easting" and "Northing", but first the UTM system must be
selected.

Enter the zone (1-60) of the UTM system. Overlapping zone calculations
are allowed (within limits) but normally, UTM zone 1 is for points
between longitudes 180W and 174W, UTM zone 2 is for points between
longitudes 174W and 168W, and so forth at 6 degree intervals, reaching
zone 60 which is for points between longitudes 174E and 180E. Normal
usage or not, the zone number dictates that any point at the mid-
longitude of the 6 degree interval has 500000 meters as its Easting.

Enter the choice North or South. Overlapping calculations are allowed

(within limits), but normally, the choice "North" is for points above
the Equator, and the choice "South" is for points below the Equator.
Normal usage or not, the choice "North" dictates that the Equator is
assigned 0 meters as its Northing, and the choice "South" dictates that
the Equator is assigned 10000000 meters as its Northing.

Once the UTM system is chosen, enter the Easting and Northing of the
point of interest. In this program, the allowed ranges are:

-500000 < Easting < 1500000 and

-500000 < Northing < 10500000.

2. Altitude

Enter the altitude in meters or feet, and indicate which. Indicate

whether the height is above mean sea level (MSL) or WGS84 ellipsoid.
The default is mean MSL. In this case, a correction will be applied to
the user-entered height to change it to the height above WGS84
ellipsoid. The height can also be entered as above the WGS84 ellipsoid.
In this case, no correction is applied. For more information about
this, visit http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/newsoft.shtml .

3. Date

Enter a date between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019 using one of
the formats provided:

Traditional format. Enter day, month, and year or use the drop
down calendar.

Decimal. Enter the date as the year number with a decimal

fraction.

III. CALCULATE

Press the calculate button or hit the enter key.

IV. GOOGLE MAP

Press the Google Map button to display the Google Map of the location
using the default

V. OUTPUT

The results can be selected and copied to the clipboard, and then
pasted into any program recognizing Rich Text Format. The values
copied are in a tab separated format with a new line between the values
at epoch and their changes per year. The unit of measure for magnetic
quantities is the nano-Tesla (nT) or, for angles, degrees and minutes.
Brief definitions of the output quantities follow:

Total. The intensity (or strength) of the entire magnetic field at a

given location. Geometrically, it is the length of the magnetic field
vector.

Horizontal. The intensity of the component of the magnetic field that

is tangent to the Earth’s surface at a given point.

North. The portion of the magnetic field that is directed horizontally

northward. A southward directed field would have a negative value for
the North component.

East. The portion of the magnetic field that is directed horizontally

eastward. A westward directed magnetic field would have a negative
value for the East component.

Vertical. The portion of the magnetic field that is directed

perpendicular to the Earth's surface at a given location. Positive
values point into the earth.

Declination. The angle of difference between true North and magnetic

North. The rotation is from true North to magnetic North with the
clockwise sense reported positively. For instance, if the declination
at a certain point was -10°, then the north-seeking needle of a compass
at that location would actually align 10° West of true North (10°
counterclockwise from true North). True North would be 10° East of the
same needle.

Inclination. The angle between the magnetic field vector and the
horizontal plane at that point. The inclination is positive when the
magnetic field points downward into the earth and negative when it
points upward.

Longitude. The longitude corresponding to the entered UTM location.

Latitude. The latitude corresponding to the entered UTM location.

True-Magnetic. Same as Declination. Shown again for comparison

purposes.

True-Grid. The angle, positive for clockwise, from true North to grid
North. Grid North is the direction of increasing Northings along a
line of constant Eastings.

Grid-Magnetic. The angle, positive for clockwise, from grid North to

magnetic North. The concept is similar to the declination but uses
grid North rather than true North as the reference direction.

Grid-True. The angle, positive for clockwise, from grid North to true
North. It is the negative of the True-Grid angle.

Errors. The WMM2015 software and online calculator include with an

error model providing uncertainty estimates for every geomagnetic
element (X, Y, Z, H, F, I and D) and every location at the Earth’s
surface. This model is built upon the results of the error analysis
(subsection 3.3 of the WMM2015 report), while taking into account the
geometrical relationships between the various components. It includes
both the commission error (due to inaccuracies in model coefficients)
and the omission error (due to missing contributions to the total
geomagnetic field such as crustal and external fields). The error
values (Table 1) may be interpreted as one standard deviation
difference between a hypothetical measurement and the calculator result
for a location.

Visit http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/faqgeom.shtml for more

information on the individual field components.

VI. TESTING
File->Test option would perform a test against pre-computed test
values. Error message will pop-up in case of a mismatch. A pass ensures
that the software is correctly installed. An error will occur if the
file, WMMGUI_TestValues.txt is either not in the same folder as the
executable or cannot be opened.

VII. ERRORS and WARNINGS

There are three categories of error handling.

Data entry. When values are entered, the text may turn red or orange.
Red denotes an error while orange denotes a warning. Details on the
error or warning can be obtained by hovering the mouse over the value
in question. These errors or warnings are shown as the values are
entered.

Calculate. When either the calculate button or the enter key is

pressed, errors or warnings might appear to the right or the left of
the calculate button. Errors will prevent the results from being
calculated. More information on the errors can be obtained by hovering
the mouse over any input text that is red.

Startup. When the program is first started, an error will occur if the
file, "WMM.COF" is either not in the same folder as the executable or
cannot be opened.