The Memambetsu Observation Facility originated as the Toyohara Magnetic Observatory (Toyohara; now Sakhalin Oblast in Russia) for the Second International Polar Year (1932∼1933).
Later the observatory was moved to Ikutora (Hokkaido) and then to its current location in Memambetsu Village (now Ozora Town in the Okhotsk Subprefecture of Hokkaido) in 1949, with services started the same year including geoelectric (∼February 2021) and atmospheric electric observation (∼March 2011), and geomagnetic observation commencing in January 1952.
In 1967 the facility was designated as one of 12 geomagnetic observatories worldwide for determining planetary geomagnetic activity index (Km) values, making it internationally important.
With the restructuring of the Kakioka Magnetic Observatory in 2011, Memambetsu became an unmanned observatory and has since been operated remotely from Kakioka.
Staff from the Abashiri Local Meteorological Office attend twice a month for absolute measurement and other duties.
[Memambetsu-Showa 62, Oozu-cho, Abashiri-gun, Hokkaido, 099-2356, Japan]
Copyright (c) Kakioka Magnetic Observatory, Japan Meteorological Agency. All rights reserved.
