Abstract. In the European region, the magnetic field at satellite altitudes
(∼350 km) is mainly defined by a long-wavelength magnetic low,
called the Central European Magnetic Low (CEML) here, located to the southwest
of the Trans-European Suture Zone (TESZ). We studied this area through a joint analysis of magnetic and total gradient
(∇T) anomaly maps for a range of different altitudes of 5, 100 and
350 km. Tests on synthetic models showed the usefulness of the joint
analysis at various altitudes to identify reverse dipolar anomalies and to
characterize areas in which magnetization is weak. This way we identified
areas where either reversely or normally magnetized sources are locally
dominant. At a European scale these anomalies are sparse, with a low degree
of coalescence effect. The ∇T map indeed presents generally small
values within the CEML area, indicating that the Paleozoic Platform is
weakly magnetized. At 350 km of altitude, the TESZ effect is largely dominant: with intense
∇T highs above the East European Craton (EEC) and very small values
above the Paleozoic Platform, this again denotes a weakly magnetized
crust. Small coalescence effects are masked by the trend of the TESZ. Although we identified sparsely located reversely magnetized sources in the
Paleozoic Platform of the CEML, the joint analysis does not support a model
of a generally reversely magnetized crust. Instead, our analysis strongly
favors the hypothesis that the CEML anomaly is mainly caused by a sharp
contrast between the magnetic properties of the EEC and Paleozoic Platform.