The magnitude and relative phase of the rf magnetic flux density has been measured as a function of radial position using a magnetic (B‐dot) probe in an inductively coupled low pressure argon discharge driven at 13.56 MHz. The spatial variation of the rf electric field and the discharge current density were determined from the probe measurements and are compared at gas pressures of 3, 30, and 300 mTorr for a fixed discharge power of 50 W and at discharge powers of 21, 50, and 103 W for a fixed gas pressure of 30 mTorr. In the active zone near the induction coil where the rf field is strong, the electron rf drift velocity derived from the B‐dot data and Langmuir probe measurement was found to be considerably less than the electron thermal velocity even at the lowest argon pressure. For an axially symmetric inductive discharge, as is found in many applications, a two‐dimensional magnetic probe measurement with space and phase resolution is necessary to correctly infer the rf electric field and the discharge current density distribution. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.