Magnetic observatories in the 21st Century : an endangered species?

Magnetic observatories have a long history of producing data that has led to many scientific discoveries. However, a long history is no guarantee of a long future and it is important to keep under review the factors that influence the sup-port given to magnetic observatory operations. The data that observatories pro-duce must be seen to be relevant to current and future scientific research, and also to ‘real-world’ applications. By understanding local and international de-mands for data, in terms of quality, resolution and availability, observatories can tailor their operations, choosing appropriate instrumentation and methods for data acquisition processing and distribution. The INTERMAGNET programme has attempted to address several of these issues.