VARIATIONS OF INTENSITY OF COSMIC RAYS AND THE ROLE OF METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04861A000400020010-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 19, 1998
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: January 1, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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1 WC,
O 2. YL Vol. 26 No. 5 4 54 Z-/ J~-O
? I? IJZ' I3 , G. V. F21A.1NTJ OVL .ke+. L. PB"B TM,
and Yu* G. Slfa%FRR.
A short exposition of the results of experimental Pand
theoretical investigation of the influence of meteorological factors
on the observed (at sea level) intensity of the hard component of cosmic
rays is presented. It is shown that, knowing the distribution of
terserature of the atmosphere above the point of observation it is
possible to calculate the meteorological factor with a precision of
up to D.1 .. 0.22 in the intensity of cosmic rays (in wrhioh case the
remaining divergence lies within the limits of error of the data of
meteorological sounding).
meteorological factors.
Variations of intensity of cosmic rays and. the role of
that (with this precision) seezonal variations of
intensity of the hard component are fully conditioned by
meteorological factors. Diurnal changes are, to a material degree,
risked by these factors.
The study of the variations of intensity of cosmic rays is a matter of
considerable interest. in the first place, some of them are conditioned by
changes in the earth's atmosphere and therefore information on she character
of the interaction of cosmio rays with matter and on the nature of particles
in cosmic rays can be extracted from this. ;secondly, having reliably
excluded those variations of geophysical origin, it is possible to obtain
rtion necessary for explaining the problem of the mechanism and plaice
Wt.' generation of cosmic rays. Thirdly, the knowledge of the character
ions between variations of the intensity of cosmic rays and solar
state of the rth's magnetic field and fluctuations of
meteorological parameters will help the further study of these phenomena.
In 1928 x1_'~~0VsXY. L! discovered the barometric effect, a convincing
confirmation of the extra-terrestrial origin of cosmic rays. This was the
first work in the U.S.S.R. on the study of the variations of intensity of
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cosmic rays. In recent years ?. number of theoretical and experimental
have been obt wined from the stucizy of this question; the exposition
of some of them comprises the basic content of the ,present article.
hard component of cosmic rays has been subjected the most
frequently to investigation. To the number of periodic fluctuations of its
t ~.Q.CC%v~ v+ t. rr_ 1
intensity belong the 11 - year seasonal (annual), 27 - .y (monthly) and
.rt of the U. ?:. S.R.
the remainder (except the decennial) reach a
weaker degree (they are measured in tenth parts of one per ce
he explanation of interaction with the a.trraosphere and for the problem
of the origin of cos: is rays, it is important
variations of intensity of the hard component of cosmic rays connected with
ogical changes in the eatth's atmosphere.
In 1937 BL, ?O:T. 7 pointed out the existence to,
barometric effect, of a temperature effect for mesons, reduced, according
to BL'.M3":?"T, to the statement that with warming, (e. g. in summer) the
atmosphere expands, the level of generation of" mesons, in this
and the decomposition of meson
By this, the order of magnitude
of :phenomena observed at sea-level can be explained., However, in
subsequent foreign experimental works - ", and many other earlier ones
(the number of which is numbered in tens) unsuooess:
basis of precise measurements over many years of the variations of the
intensity of the hard component of cosmic rays, were made to explain by
meteorological effects the seasonal changes of
city of cosmic rays
having obtained m o r e e precise temperature effect.
In foreign literature at s present time this question is extremely
complicated. I t is sufficient to say that, in a survey I n 1952
for example, the article of i OLB A,:t' and
seasonal variations, after taking into account the decomposition of Me as .
there seemed to remain an equally powerful seasonal effect of the reverse
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o--?called . ositive texnneraa.ture effect). ,n ei*fect Of suck
aught, indeed to be obtained if the co petition between deco 4r-ac:3ition and
capture of T -mesons generating mesons is taken into account,# but it
ought to be several (u; to three) times less than that calculated by these
authors and also in work? from observations.
iiowevor the whole conclusion that to take into account tile d0cOl-Losition
of the xenon does not remove the seasonal ef'f'ect, but strengthens it, is,
as we shall see, based on a misunderstanding. The following a
inlays a considerarble role in the creation of this misunderstanding.
i eterologi al effects are usually reduced to two : barometric
a.nae
increase of the absorption of mesons With the growth of the mass of Liatter
above the apparatus) and temperature (da.sf)laace;rxxent of the level of generation
of the mesons with cimnge of temperature of the at .osphcre).
calculation of ternaerature effect the question arises
here should be taken into account here?
level of generation the temperature of the atmosphere dif
and its change at different levels is not uniform. ?Thus,
ch t6mperaturc of
sea level and the
by 6o - 8O deg.
sea level in
sxu rner it is va.rmer than in winter vmiisT, at, T-Li Y ry____ _
number of places (. ngland, North s:merica) it is colder in Sumer. ':at sea
level in siberia it is colder than at the equator, bu in the stratosphere it
etc.
In a number of works ill-conceived atte::cts were Made during the calculation
of to construct a so-called "single`? to==rgserature coefficient
out of the changes o
earth or, on
eerature of the layer of r-...trnoa1here nearest the
other hand, of the stratosphere p
r an average of these
two ter_xperature, or an average of the tern eratUres of a certain part of the
atmosphere. In these oircumstaraces mutu,,1ly contr;:,ddctory results were
obtained.
er..nwhilo the citixestion,
and general solution.
even in 1946, allows of
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from b_~rometric effect and the effect of the dis?platcomment of the level of
generation of !mesons, of another equally imeortant effectx the lifetime of
the size son s3,eae:ncis on its energy,
Therefore the probability of decomposition
grows as the aye yen p
ap roaohes the Earth as a result o ? ionisation losses,
the atmosphere
orta.nce. In other words, the probability of reaching
the re-distribution of masses even at ri. constant
ration. Hence calcuitition of the non-ec:uilibrjum
nalysis of the experiment is essential.
Calculation of the change of meteorological factors, as can be e:s.s
shoVM is de teraimixned in fact for the vertical flow of masons by the following
formul?a, -in which we neglect only the spreading -) ', MAz No ,'r7 of the l a rel
of generation and the c ot:apetition between deco=zposition and capture of
V -mesons, generating - -mesons.
N*
and is its change; f~ is the
o bservta ,:.ion;
of the particle
rr
the impulse
the air"
l1 A, 13
are coefficients depending on the mass of the -meson (V* , its lifetime at
0 , tea peraature and density of the air at the point of observation
*1 T
? (k
heterogeneous
at of all, attention should be directed to the existence, art
e - at the beginning or end of the path -- the meson loses this energy,
A 8 +e
/y B
( 4 )
c at the point of
pressure at the point of generation
; a is the ionisation losses pe
t
the change of tem;pera.ture; T a,t the point taiga
ula (1) its first member
baronmctrie effect, in the
the cozy; licated influence of changes of to.m perature in a
osphere /not in a state of eouilibr
in 1949-50, after averaging according to the spectrLun of the mesons
and according to angles, formula (1) was extended to the case of global
Up to recent times this generalised formula was also utilised
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by us for theoretical forecastin ; of meteorological effect and it enabled
us to obtain this important result ; it was st?own that the seasonal, variation
of intensity of the hard component of cosmic rays is almost wholly explained
by the influence of meteorological factors. in view of this the necessity
of further precision of the formula (1) arose.
the beginning of 1952, formula (1) .,as newly gener?:.lised
on a
on diagram, based on the supposition that r - mesons appear as the
t of the dace position of TI - mesons generated by the )rimary component
in the thickness of the atmosphere, which can both decompose and be ca
by nuclei. By this, the so-called positive temperature effect is cnloula_ted,
The change introduced by the possibility of the capture of 11 ..mesons is,
generally speaking, not great; it is considerable only for great depths under
the ea
onf'i rat a l; ton of the correctness Of such a h pothesis can be seen in the
fact that the generation spectrum of 'Ti -mesons, obtained from coca orison
of the tijvoretia v4=.raa on -
utilizing the well.-known data of GiZIGO OV agrees well with a' s" S
n spectrum LTJ,
on the basis of the for ulae obtained, v-,L ilia..ry graphs were constructed.,
1-3 which, lr-anowaing the temperature cross section of the atmosphere and
pressure at the point of observation, it is easily possible to calculate the
change of intensity of cosmic rays S ~A'conditioned by the change of
meteorological factors. According to this theoretical diagram, data of
continuous registration of fluctuations of cosmic ray intensity were elaborated
in order to exclude the influence of meteorological effect. xperLaental
d&ta of fluctuations of global intensity of
rd component of c0smi*
rays were obtained. by us vra tth great >recision - u to ?a Low twun;dred h ;arts
of one per cent over one hour of observation.
om tizeso data of changes of intensity of the hard co=one nt of
rays at two different points of the Soviet Union we obtained. ct
of the seasonal variation of the intensity of cosmic
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I1/
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Results of measurements and calculations are presented al
following table:
Point
Seasonal effect
(Amplitude of annual
variation)
of
Observation
of
Obser-
vation
Measured
Calculated
according
to
meteorological
data
Point No,
1951-1952
2,2
0.99 ? 0.
U.S.S.R.
SRPoint No, 2
1949-1950
5.0
4+.9
0.91 F 0, 03
IT . ). B* R.
Point No, 2
1951-1952
3.6
092+0.01.
U,S,A0
CHEV W
1937-1946
1.4
0.89+0,03
a
2. N
of the order of 0,1 - 0..2 does not exceed the limits of error of
measurements of the temperature of the atmosphere and measurements of S 'I
Thus we can confirm that with the precision indicated, the seasonal
effect for the hard component of cosmic rays is fully explained by
orological factors. However the authors of work , introducing,
have said, a correction for the decomposition of mesons, did not compensate the
measured variations and obtained a residual seasonal effect of the sane
absolute value (1,8;0 as that measured, but of the opposite sign*
easily shown /-127, the reason for this lies in the incorrect calculation of the
influence of the decomposition of mesons where the temperature distribution
of the atmosphere was not borne in mind. Incomplete calculation of the
influence of meteorological factors in work led to the erroneous
interpretation of positive temperature effect which was explained by the
(see
of T mesons. In fact the result obtained in // is explained
, basically by the fact that the author did not take into account the
effect of redistribution of masses and the effect of the spreading
the level of generation which play a special role, because
at the point of measurement of the work the temperature in the stratosphere
Z_W
has a seasonal variation, the reverse of the seasonal variation at earth level,
i9ig, 30 The density of the temperature coefficient IV ((1) for I`_A- and
Ap ovedDFor Ras r204O/O/249 G1A-F E)P *48M0W40G 2 0 *-Lch the
/change
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change of temperature at a given point 9 i (~'' ") should be rmultiplied
Having integrated this product according to height W. we obtain a value
corresponding to the second member in formula (1) for the case of observations
at sea level, The utilization of only the lower curve gives the effect for the
"one meson diagram", The upper curve gives the contribution (possessing reverse
sign) from the competition between capture and decomposition of P -- masons,
effect is given by the sum of both curves:
a r
The daily effect of variations of intensity of the hard
cent of cosmic rays, obtained by averaging data of measurements (U.So
point No. 2) over 194.9-1952 (white circles), The black circles show the
theoretically expected changes of intensity of the meson component S 04 1,
conditioned by meteorological factors and calculated from the averaged data of
daily meteorological sounding of the atmosphere at the hours indicated, The
average error of measurements ~.1 is equal to ? O.Q212.
Theoretical calculations show that for intensity of cosmic rays, observed:
levels the effect of change of temperature at a great height on iT mesons
is 4-5 times weaker than on fA' mesons; therefore the temperature effect of the
atmosphere is negative. (.g,, 3).
Incorrect calculation of meteorological factors, in particular, neglect of
the above-mentioned effect of re-distribution of masses, led, at one time, oven
the author of /57 to the erroneous conclusion that th
n:al changes of
intensity of cosmic rays are not reduced to meteorological cha
explained, in his terminology, "by variations of the second kind" (world
variations), our results obviously refute this conclusion:
With the same mistake are also connected the conclusions made in
found that a substantial part of the latitude effect of intensity of
cosmic rays was reduced to a meteorological effect., Calculations made as above
gave different xessults which definitely showed that the latitude meteorological
effect of intensity of cosmic rays at sea level does not exceed 3-44j, and at a
ht of 10 km it is not more than
:iturnal changes of intensity of cosmic rays are of a lower order than
seasonal and their study requires far more care in the determination of diurnal
changes of the temperature of the atmosphere at various levelss.
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the separation of me
cal factors in the daily course of variations of
Cosmic rays requires round-the-clock repeated radio-soundings considerably
frequent and more precise than those undertaken up till now by meteorologists,
Precise observations carried out by us in .the U,,B,R, have enabled us to
fa- M-_..-a v- .~..s+ iva~uv.~,r 1'C61. au.La 111a.eI'laL wnion o. eax'iy indicates
the existence of a diurnal effect in the intensity of the hard component of
cosmic radiation with an amplitude of O..2 ., with a maximum around id-day. (Fig. i,;
From Fig, J+ it e
n that two points Ire-calculated according to
meteorological data for S M r at mid-day and midnight are in opposite pha
responding to the points of the observed diurnal course of variations
distinct from the result of
the error of which is sheswn
Results of observations, and calculations for point No. 2 showed that after
introduction of correction for meteorological effect, the amplitude of diurnal
variation 1 is roughly doubled (0.4_,,4!)
However, errors of diurnal measurements
of temperature of high layers of the atmospheres conditioned by, radiation heating
of radio-sondes are still so great (at the present time) that this conclusion
requires further careful testing, If this conclusion is true, then it means that
the daily effect of variations T of non-meteorological origin possessing the
reverse sign to the meteorological effect, actually exists and has an amplitude
of about O.3-0,4,.
In connection with the problem of the diurnal effect in changes of the
fundamental interest lies in the calculation of the influence of the changes of
condition of the so-called ozone layer. According to reelimi.nary experimental
data of measurements of temperature of the ozone layer, it turns out that the
amplitude of diurnal fluctuations of its temperature attains considerable
magnitude and is of the sign opposite to the amplitude of fluctuations of
temperature of the layer of air nearest the earth,
.According to theoretical calculations, the basic portion of the diurnal
variations could be explained by redistribution of masses .:.n the ozone layer
and in conjunction with them, of the upper layers of the atmosphere, if the
fluctuations of temperature of the ozone layer attained 70-100?. However,
experimental data give no foundation for such propossitions#,
We note that certain experiments were carried out even earlier (see, for
example, `), in which the influence of meteorological factors was automatically
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exxcluded. Measurements of intensity of cosmic rays were carried out at
medium latitudes by two telescopes, one of which was directed parallel to the
earth's axis,, and the other perpendicular to it. 'thus, in spite of
rotation of the earth, intensity of radiation coming roughly from one point of
the sky was measured the whole} of the time by one telescope, whilst the other
telescope collected over the 24 hours, radiation coming from various points of
Therefore the difference of readings given by the two telescopes,
ohich the meteorological effect drops out, should give the
Measurements carried out
the existence of such diurnal effect in the intensity of cosmic rate's with an
ift
amplitude at least equal to around 0, i
fined group of questions belong the non-periodical changes
connected 'with the passage of meteorological fronts which are the boundaries
of separation of various air masses. The considerable experimental material
collected at the present time at point No, 2 has enabled us to confirm reliably
the existence of a so-called
front effect :" (noted in work ) in S T
order of 0,3 s Results are in any case in qualitative and even
;uantitative agreement with the theoretical notions set out above.
more precise theoreticall quantitative analysis is Made difficult as a
result of the absence of sufficiently precise experimental data on the
temperature of the atmosphere and on measurement of the intensity of the hard
component of cosmic rays over small intervals of time.
To the number of non-periodical variations, possibly of a meteorological
character belong also sell increases
the order of 0?2 ! o93 ~) of the
natty of the hard component of cosmic rays during the t:
discontinuation Of radio--Oomunication and of small solar flares -
which c
several.
phenomena are accompanied by an increased flow of ultra-violet radiation
d; to the lowering of the temperature of the ozone layer by
s of degrees. Such a lowering of temperature causes, in its tu.
increase of intensity of cosmic rays, is aranclusion, in particular,
explains the fact that effects of small solar flares in
observed only on the day side of the earth.
Lclusion on the meteorological or
effects of small
solar flares requires additional testing since changes of temperature of the
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ozone layer during the time of discontinuation of radio-communication and
small solar flares have not been established with sufficient reliability,
The results set out show that meteorological factors play a substantial
part in the variations of intensity of the hard component of cosmic rays,
At the present time we are able to calculate with consido'able precision the
meteorological part of variations according to data of the meteorological
sounding of the atmosphere. Results of investigations lead us to the
conclusion that seasonal variations are reduced almost wholly to the
meteorological; diurnal variations are substantially masked by them, and, in
actual fact are
great as these observed.,
In conclusion we note that in this work we constantly made use of the
advice of S. N. VER 1OV and N. L, G-RI OROV. Besides this, in the carrying out
of measurements, the following took part - G. A. i NDR.ET;VA, L. N. LYAY ",
22EROVA, D. D. KRASIL' NIXOV, K. I. POL' SKAYA,, G. V. SKRIPIN,
V. D, SO :OIAV, N. V. TY[JTIKOV and A. I. YU `tAANK)VA. The authors express
gratitude to these colleagues for the extensive help given them in this
complex work.
ted for publication
29th October, 1953a
attire
5
L, M SO SKY and L. TUVIM ZS.1" 5hys, 273, 1928
A, I PE RIER, Journ, Atm, and Terr, :Whys,, 296, 1951
F. N. B1 AOK TT, Fhys, Rev., , 937, 1938
D, W. N. DOLBEAB, H. ELLIO?T, Journ, Atm., and 'Tern,
Monthly Weather Review, a- 1 , 1939-1946
C. ', POWWELL, lJep, Fiz, Nauk, , 15, 1951
N. L. t -RI c OROV, DAN SSSR, 6, 381, 1951
a R, , 421, 194.6
,. I, DC)R; rAN, DM SS .3, A, .33, 1954
USH, phys, Rev.
5Ar
215,1951
979, 1938; Rev, Mod. Phys,, 11, 168, 1939
N, Progr, of Cosmic Rays, Amsterdam, 1952
R, ;,, 4.9, 1954
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198
2x,6 5M, 1954
U HRI, , P. G AST, Phys. Rev. 2. 583, 1940.
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