From 8eaafecfba4905c979f5061bb9850bdeda0b908e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Rigdon <arigdon@igskcicgltgm031.gs.doi.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 07:58:57 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Created a new document file for the Average Algorithm

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+Average Algorithm
+-----------------
+
+Algorithm Theoretical Basis for "Average Algorithm"
+
+## Summary
+Averages multiple observatory data for the same channel.
+Used mainly to average disturbance data in order to find
+the general disturbance in the magnetic field. The algorithm
+takes data from multiple observatories with the same channel
+and returns a stream of the averaged data.
+
+## Background and Motivation
+The averaging function is used to smooth out the plots and
+find a combined disturbance of the magnetic field that
+encompasses the Earth. This can be used to determine the 
+overall effect of magnetic storms over a large area. The 
+algorithm is also used to average the Solar Quiet response 
+to find the daily change in the magnetic field. The algorithm
+can be used to find the average of any channel over multiple
+observation stations.
+
+## Math and Theory
+Multiple data streams are averaged using a numpy function
+(numpy.mean) that takes multiple ndarrays as an argument
+and averages them into one array. A latitude correction
+can be applied based on the different observation locations.
+The correction is really just a weighting value based on a
+0-1 scale in order to put more validity in some stations.
+
+## Practical Considerations
+The averaging function can be called from geomag.py and stating 
+the '--algorithm average' option or by calling the average.py 
+script which automatically chooses the averaging option to the 
+algorithm. Only one channel at a time can be run through the 
+algorithm. Any input that geomag.py can handle can be used
+such as the edge server or a file url input this is also true
+for any output.
-- 
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