https://mayalucia.dev/tags/geophysics/ Recent content in Geophysics on MayaLucIA Hugo -- 0.156.0 en-us Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0100 https://mayalucia.dev/modules/mayajiva/landscape/ Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0100 https://mayalucia.dev/modules/mayajiva/landscape/ <p>The landscape is the world the bug navigates &mdash; a 2D magnetic field environment that models the Earth&rsquo;s geomagnetic field plus geological anomalies. The uniform geomagnetic field provides the compass signal; the anomalies test the compass&rsquo;s robustness.</p> <h2 id="geomagnetic-background">Geomagnetic Background</h2> <p>The background field is characterised by:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Declination</strong> &mdash; the angle between geographic and magnetic north</li> <li><strong>Inclination</strong> &mdash; the dip angle (how steeply field lines plunge into the Earth)</li> <li><strong>Total intensity</strong> &mdash; ~50 μT at mid-latitudes</li> </ul> <p>An inclination compass (like the radical-pair mechanism) measures the angle between the field and the local vertical, not the field direction. This means it cannot distinguish north from south &mdash; it detects the axis, not the polarity.</p>