The British Geological Survey (BGS) run surface electric field monitoring systems at the three magnetic observatories in the United Kingdom. These measure the changing electric field generated near the Earth's surface.

Rapid variations of the geomagnetic field, caused by space weather, produce an electric field in the Earth's surface. This electric field is the source of geomagnetically induced currents that can, for example, cause damage to transformers in the power grid or cause corrosion to pipelines.

Data are recorded at 10 Hz along East-West and North-South electrode lines and automatically transmitted to BGS. Data are filtered to 0.1Hz before presentation on this site.

DISCLAIMER: The data presented are based on raw measurements without any quality control.

Main page

To select the data set you want to see, and the range of dates and/or times you want to see it over, click the Select Data button and enter the relevant information in the dialog.

For data sets that can be viewed at different dates and/or times, use the Previous and Next buttons to step backward and forward by the date/time range currently shown on the page. Use the Most Recent button to see the most recently available data. The Next and Most Recent buttons will be disabled when the most recent data is displayed. The Previous button will be disabled when the page is showing the earliest data available for the current data set.

Select Data dialog

Select the data set you want to see from the drop-down menu.

Where applicable, select the observatory (observatories) or region(s) from the drop-down menu.

Where applicable, enter two dates/times separated by '-' in the input box to specify the date/time you want to see. Alternatively, select a date/time range using the date picker.