Observatories In Benelux Countries

Introduction

Benelux is a small geographical entity, which encompasses the countries Belgium, the Netherlands, and The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Although the Benelux countries cover a small area, there has been interest there for magnetic observations since early on. As a result, many observatories have been created by the Benelux countries at home and abroad. Luxembourg has no observatory of its own, only field geomagnetic measurements have ever been made (Flick and Stomp, 2002).

Short history

The Dutch scientist Pieter van Musschenbroek was the first to continuously observe the magnetic declination starting 1728 in Utrecht and later Leiden until 1758. These measurements initiated a long series of observations in the Netherlands, with additional observatory locations in De Bilt (1898) and Witteveen (1938). However, in 1988 the management of the Dutch Meteorological Institute KNMI decided to stop funding magnetic observations in the Netherlands. This effectively ended the 260‐year...