magnetic declination

British  

noun

1. Also called: declination.   magnetic variation.  the angle that a compass needle makes with the direction of the geographical north pole at any given point on the earth's surface

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magnetic declination Scientific  

1. The horizontal angle between the true geographic North Pole and the magnetic north pole, as figured from a specific point on the Earth.

2. Compare magnetic inclination

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Example Sentences

While Murphy and Laseron went back two miles to recover them, Webb secured a magnetic declination and I took sun observations for time and azimuth.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir

Now, here is what we know with most certainty as to the magnetic declination of Paris at the epoch in question: Years.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891 by Various

He has further applied the method to the study of the variations of the magnetic declination, and of sun-spot records.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 8 "Haller, Albrecht" to "Harmonium" by Various

Men were invited to believe that a subterranean freely-rotating nucleus occasions by its position the diurnal and annual changes of magnetic declination.

From COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Humboldt, Alexander von

With us the magnetic declination is a minimum at about eight o’clock in the morning, and is greatest at two o’clock in the afternoon.

From The Philosophy of the Weather And a Guide to Its Changes by Butler, Thomas Belden