Analyzing and correcting for contaminating magnetic fields at the Brorfelde geomagnetic observatory due to high voltage DC power lines

The magnetic field observations made at the geomagnetic observatory Brorfelde (BFE), Denmark, are subject to disturbances of several nT caused by two single wire high-voltage DC power lines connecting Scandinavia with Central Europe. We have analysed how the magnetic disturbances relate to the currents in the power lines and found a linear relationship.

Using linear regression on carefully selected parts of the available data series we have determined the factors of proportionality. Based on the simple relationship between the currents in the power lines and the observed magnetic disturbances, we have derived a method to correct the observatory data for a significant part of the disturbances.

In addition we have investigated the influence of the disturbances on the determination of the K-index of the observatory. We found that the K-index based on the original disturbed data compared to the K-indices calculated from corrected data was different in 4% of the 3-hour intervals for the investigated period.