Paula Freitas

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name =Paula Freitas

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|settlement_type =Municipality

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|pushpin_label_position =bottom

|pushpin_map_caption =Location in Brazil

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name ={{flag|Brazil}}

|subdivision_type1 = Region

|subdivision_name1 =Southern

|subdivision_type2 = State

|subdivision_name2 =Paraná

|subdivision_type3 =Mesoregion

|subdivision_name3 =Sudeste Paranaense

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|unit_pref =Imperial

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|population_as_of = 2020 [https://cidades.ibge.gov.br/brasil/pr/paula-freitas/panorama IBGE 2020]

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|population_total = 5,908

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|timezone = BRT

|utc_offset = −3

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Paula Freitas is a municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.{{cite web |url=https://geoftp.ibge.gov.br/organizacao_do_territorio/estrutura_territorial/divisao_territorial/2008/dtb_2008.zip |title=Divisão Territorial do Brasil |date=July 1, 2008 |publisher=Divisão Territorial do Brasil e Limites Territoriais, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) |access-date=December 17, 2009|language=pt}}{{cite web | url = http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/estimativa2009/POP2009_DOU.pdf | title = Estimativas da população para 1º de julho de 2009| publisher = Estimativas de População, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) | date = August 14, 2009 | access-date=December 17, 2009 | format = PDF|language=pt }}{{cite web |url=http://www.pnud.org.br/atlas/ranking/IDH-M%2091%2000%20Ranking%20decrescente%20(pelos%20dados%20de%202000).htm |title=Ranking decrescente do IDH-M dos municípios do Brasil |year=2000 |publisher=Atlas do Desenvolvimento Humano, Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD) |access-date=December 17, 2009 |language=pt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003103229/http://www.pnud.org.br/atlas/ranking/IDH-M%2091%2000%20Ranking%20decrescente%20%28pelos%20dados%20de%202000%29.htm |archive-date=October 3, 2009 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/economia/pibmunicipios/2005/tab01.pdf |title=Produto Interno Bruto dos Municípios 2002-2005 |date=December 19, 2007 |publisher=Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) |access-date=December 17, 2009|language=pt}}

The Brazilian town of Paula Freitas is home to a Geomagnetism Research Laboratory, called Geophysics Research Campus Major Edsel de Freitas Coutinho, whose goal is to study the South Atlantic Geomagnetic Anomaly. The Paula Freitas municipality is close to the center of the largest and most important of Earth's Magnetic Anomalies, which has an influence on all ionosphere, extending from the Andes Cordillera to South Africa, encompassing almost all South America.

The town of Paula Freitas lies under the area where the Earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to the Earth's surface.

This leads to an increased flux of energetic particles in this region and exposes orbiting satellites and other spacecraft to higher than usual levels of radiation. The effect is caused by the non-concentricity of the Earth and its magnetic dipole.{{fact|date=January 2017}}