Rekha Agarwal Mishra

Cosmic ray anisotropy and solar activity

In this paper an attempt is made to study the occurrence of a large number of high amplitude anisotropic wave train events in cosmic ray intensity during 1981-1994 and to identify a possible correlation with solar activity using the hourly neutron monitor data of Deep River station. The diurnal time of maximum for both HAE as well as for all days is found to significantly shift towards an earlier time as compared to the corotational/azimuthal direction since the year 1991 onward. It is found that diurnal amplitude and 10.7-cm solar radio flux significantly deviates and reaches to its maximum and phase remains in the corotational direction during the years close to solar activity maximum for HAE. The occurrence of high amplitude anisotropic wave train events is dominant during solar activity minimum as well as maximum years. The amplitude as well as phase of the cosmic ray diurnal anisotropy during HAEs is well correlated with solar activity. The amplitude as well as phase of diurnal anisotropy shows very nominal correlation with 10.7-cm solar radio flux (r = 0.48, 0.47). However, the frequency of occurrence of HAEs shows a very weak correlation (r = - 0.36) with 10.7-cm solar radio flux.

Unusually low-amplitude anisotropic wave-train events of cosmic ray intensity during 1981–1994

Investigation has been made for unusually low-amplitude anisotropic wave train events (LAE) for cosmic ray intensity data of Deep River neutron monitoring station during the period 1981–94. It has been observed that the phase of diurnal anisotropy remains in the same co-rotational direction for most of the LAEs while the phase shifts to early hours for some of the LAEs in diurnal anisotropy. During minimum solar activity, LAEs have been observed to be dominant. Solar wind plasma (SWP) parameters, inter-planetary magnetic field and various features at solar disk have also been studied. The amplitude remains low continuously for most of the days while the phase shifts to earlier hours. Occurrence of LAE is independent of the nature of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF).

Harmonics of Daily Variations in Cosmic-Ray Intensity

The high/low amplitude anisotropic wave-train events (HAE/LAE) in cosmic-ray intensity have been investigated during the period 1991-94, using the neutron monitor data for different latitudes. In all, 16 HAE and 13 LAE cases have been studied. An inter-comparison of the first three harmonics during these events has been made so as to understand the basic reason causing the occurrence of these types of events. It has been observed that the phase of diurnal anisotropy shifts towards earlier hours for HAEs; similarly, it shifts towards earlier hour as compared to 18-Hr direction for LAEs. For semi-diurnal anisotropy phase remains statistically the same for both HAE as well as for LAE. Further in case of tri-diurnal anisotropy phase is evenly distributed for both types of events. The interplanetary magnetic field and solar-wind plasma parameters during these events are also investigated. It has been also observed that HAE/LAEs are weakly dependent on solar-wind velocity.