Global Positioning System survey equipment operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration overlooks buildings at the observatory. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Observing the earth

Remote Caroline County observatory marks 50th anniversary today with changes in technology, focus

Date published: 5/23/2006

By RUSTY DENNEN

The complex of small, white 1950s-era government-issue buildings sit in a time warp in a field in rural Caroline County.

And largely for that reason, the Fredericksburg Geomagnetic Observatory has done its arcane but important work for half a century. The observatory, one of 14 worldwide, measures Earth's magnetic field, providing key information to electric power producers, communications companies and the military.

Today, scientists will mark the 50th anniversary of the 180-acre site off State Route 2 in Corbin, south of New Post.

Geophysicist Leroy Pankratz travels here three or four times a year from the United States Geological Survey office in Denver, Colo., to update and calibrate the sensitive equipment and sensors. He arrived over the weekend to work and to prepare for the gathering.

"The whole idea is that there are no people here," Pankratz says of the property, which was purchased from, and is bordered by the U.S. Army's Fort A.P. Hill.

"To a certain extent, the equipment does much better when there are no people around. That's why we locate in the boonies--like here, Barrow, Alaska, Guam. It's pretty isolated," he said.

How long northern Caroline will remain rural is an issue: Percentage-wise, it's the nation's ninth fastest-growing county, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates.

When the Corbin center opened, then-U.S. Commerce Secretary Sinclair Weeks, speaking at the dedication ceremony on May 23, 1956, declared, "We could no more get along without the magnetic observatories than we could without weather stations, astronomic observatories and other institutions, which give us necessary information to maintain the commerce and technology of the country."

Corbin was chosen after the Cheltenham, Md., observatory was deemed obsolete and too small.

Precise readings on Earth's magnetic field, and its subtle changes due to solar activity and other factors, are needed for all kinds of civilian and military applications.

"Geomagnetism stuff is kind of technical," but essential, says Diane Noserale, spokeswoman for USGS in Reston. For example, any hiker, or ship's captain uses geographic information systems equipment calibrated by data gleaned from the observatories.

In the mid-50s Cold War era, for example, nuclear missiles' guidance systems relied on it.

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Date published: 5/23/2006