Quality control of Ebro magnetic observatory using momentary values

Intercomparison of momentary values from observatories across Europe can be used as a test of reliability for a particular magnetic station in this area, as well as the whole network. The method presented by Voppel at the IAGA Assembly of Grenoble (1975) and developed by Schulz and Voppel at the IAGA Assembly of Edinburgh (1981) is based on simultaneous measurements taken at 02:00 UT, which coincides with the period least disturbed by Sq associated currents on central European longitudes. A selected list of ten least disturbed days per month is provided by the Niemegk (initially Wingst) Geomagnetic Observatory which gathers the corresponding momentary values from the collaborating institutions. This method can be applied to detect fluctuations or jumps in geomagnetic standards. Independent techniques, like linear regression and axial intercept of the standard deviation of the mutual differences of monthly mean values, have been applied to the magnetic elements of Ebro Observatory (EBR) for the period 1997-2001. These tools give results in good agreement amongst them, and most of the coefficients are similar to those obtained for the most significant observatories of the network. No jumps or trends in data are observed, indicating excellent performance of EBR.