Geomagnetic Field Models & IFR Support

Flatirons
Geomagnetic Services

High-resolution crustal and real-time disturbance corrections, built from satellite, ground station, and regional survey data, with uncertainty estimates and clear deliverables.

Explore Our Services
Scroll

Reduce Magnetic-Field Uncertainty
for Wellbore Positioning

IFR workflows, regional anomaly modeling, and external-field corrections—grounded in NOAA/CIRES research practice and published methods.

IFR Icon

IFR — In-Field Referencing

In-Field Referencing (IFR) estimates local magnetic field elements (declination, inclination/dip, total field) for a defined area and time window. We combine satellite observations with regional airborne, marine, and ground data (as available) to model crustal anomalies and provide operational outputs suitable for drilling workflows—along with uncertainty estimates and assumptions.

Virtual Observatory Icon

Virtual Observatory (External-Field Correction)

We fuse a global external-field model with near-real-time satellite and ground observatory measurements to estimate disturbance-field corrections over a region of interest. Deliverables can include time series of corrections, event flags, and integration guidance for operational use.

Consulting Icon

Scientific Consulting & Data Analysis

Model development, validation, and uncertainty analysis for geomagnetic and space-weather applications. Typical work includes model intercomparisons, performance assessment against observatory and satellite data, and operationalization (APIs, pipelines, monitoring).

The Founder

Manoj Nair

Manoj Nair

Founder & Principal Scientist

Dr. Manoj Nair is a geomagnetic field modeler with decades of experience at CIRES (University of Colorado Boulder) and NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). He has contributed to the development and operational transition of high-resolution geomagnetic reference models used in drilling and navigation, including NOAA/CIRES's High-Definition Geomagnetic Model (HDGM).

His work includes satellite magnetic measurements, ionospheric current systems, machine learning for geomagnetic disturbance forecasting, and real-time magnetospheric disturbance field modeling.

Flatirons Geomagnetic Services LLC is based in Boulder, Colorado.

Practical Geomagnetic Modeling Support for Operations

Tell us your basin/region, operational timeframe, and required outputs (D/I/F, corrections, uncertainty). We'll propose an approach and deliverables.

Contact Us

Publications

Representative publications underlying methods used in our consulting work (modeling, uncertainty, operational correction).

2024

Chulliat, A., Nair, M., Fillion, M. and Califf, S., Enhanced Models and Implementations for Minimizing Uncertainty in External Magnetic Fields. ISCWSA 60th General meeting, September 26, 2024, New Orleans, Louisiana. [LINK]

2024

Califf, S., M. Nair, D. Weimer, N. Zachman, and B. Poedjono, Assessment of the Weimer Geomagnetic Perturbation Model for High-Latitude Positioning and Navigation. Space Weather, 22(10), e2024SW004005. doi:10.1029/2024SW004005

2023

Nair, M., M. Kruglyakov and A. Kuvshinov, On the Use of Adjacent Land-Based Magnetic Field Data to Correct for Geomagnetic Disturbances During Offshore Directional Drilling. ISCWSA 57th General meeting, March 10, 2023, Stavanger, Norway. [LINK]

2021

Nair, M., A. Chulliat, A. Woods, P. Alken, B. Meyer, B. Poedjono, N. Zachman, and J. Hernandez, Next Generation High-Definition Geomagnetic Model for Wellbore Positioning, Incorporating New Crustal Magnetic Data. Offshore Technology Conference, August 2021, Houston, TX. doi:10.4043/31044-MS

2018

Nair, M., P. Alken and A. Chulliat, Forecasting the magnetic disturbance-storm-time (Dst) index using machine-learning. ISCWSA 48th meeting, September 27, 2018, Dallas, TX. [LINK]

2017

Chulliat, A., M. Nair, P. Alken, B. Meyer, R. Saltus, A. Woods and B. Poedjono, New Capabilities of NOAA's High-Resolution Geomagnetic Reference Models. ISCWSA 46th meeting, October 12, 2017, San Antonio, TX. [LINK]

2017

Nair, M., A. Chulliat, A. Woods, P. Alken, B. Meyer and R. Saltus, New approach to quantify uncertainty for high-resolution magnetic reference models. ISCWSA 45th meeting, March 17, 2017, The Hague, Netherlands. [LINK]

2016

Alken, P., A. Chulliat, M. Nair, B. Meyer, R. Saltus, A. Woods, N. Boneh, New advances in geomagnetic field modeling. ISCWSA 44th meeting, September 22, 2016, Glasgow, Scotland. [LINK]

2015

Nair, M., A. Woods, A. Chulliat, P. Alken and N. Boneh, A real-time magnetic disturbance model to improve drilling accuracy in low and mid latitudes of the Earth. ISCWSA 42nd meeting, October 1, 2015, Houston, TX. [LINK]

2012

Maus, S., Nair, M., Woods, A., Gannon, J. L., Finn, C. A. & Love, J. J., The NGDC/USGS real-time magnetospheric disturbance field calculator. ISCWSA, October 11, 2012, San Antonio, TX. [LINK]

2012

Maus, S., M. C. Nair, B. Poedjono, S. Okewunmi, J. D. Fairhead, U. Barckhausen, P. R. Milligan, J. Matzka, High Definition Geomagnetic Models: A New Perspective for Improved Wellbore Positioning. IADC/SPE Drilling Conference and Exhibition, March 2012, San Diego, CA. [LINK]

Contact Us

Everything starts with a hello.

Phone

+1 720 260 4473

Location

Colorado, USA