Magnetic dip, dip angle, or magnetic inclination is the angle made with the horizontal by the compass needle of a vertically held compass. This angle varies at different points on the Earth's surface. Positive values of inclination indicate that the magnetic field of the Earth is pointing downward, into the Earth, at the point of measurement. The value can be measured with an instrument typically known as a dip circle.
Dip angle was discovered by the engineer Georg Hartmann in 1544.
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