An invitation to participate in the
I Magnet Brazil: State of the art and future challenges

05- 10 June 2011
Atlântico Búzios Convention Center
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dear Colleagues,
We invite you to participate in the I Magnet Brazil: State of the art and future challenges, the first Brazilian Symposium on Geomagnetism. It will be held between the 05th and 10th of June 2011 in Búzios, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

We aim to discuss the latest results and future challenges in geomagnetism, following these main themes: innovation in magnetic observatories, geomagnetic data from satellite and the planning for the SWARM mission, challenges on global magnetic field modeling, core dynamics, paleomagnetism and archaeomagnetism. It is hoped that this meeting will stimulate interchange of students from different institutions and new Projects of international cooperation with Brazil.

Geomagnetic observatories record continuously the Earth's magnetic field and provide important data for studying the deep Earth and for understanding the time evolution of the geomagnetic field. However, the global distribution of observatories is inhomogeneous, with only a few located in South America.

The first Brazilian magnetic observatory started in 1915, in Vassouras (Rio de Janeiro). Afterwards, the Tatuoca observatory was installed in Pará in 1955. More recently, the National Observatory started a Project to install seven new magnetic observatories throughout in Brazil.

Brazil is located in a interesting geomagnetic area due to the South Atlantic Anomaly, where the magnetic field is weak, so study in this region is strategically important. Currently, the magnetic field strength is decreasing in this region, this being connected to reverse flux patches at the top of the core. It is likely that this anomaly plays an important role in the observed dipole moment decay.

We look forward to sharing with you the scientific program we planned and to welcome you in Rio de Janeiro!

Katia Pinheiro
Organizing Committee,
I Magnet Brazil: State of the art and future challenges