1. A method for referencing related magnetic head atomic force microscopy scans, the method comprising: performing a low resolution pole tip recession scan of a pole tip area of a magnetic head; performing a high resolution writer pole recession scan of a writer pole area of the magnetic head; preparing a portion of the low resolution scan for alignment; performing a rough leveling of the high resolution scan; aligning the portion of the low resolution scan and the high resolution scan using pattern recognition and a database of features; subtracting the high resolution scan from the aligned portion of the low resolution scan; and leveling the high resolution scan based on a result of the subtraction.