An online application for the barometric coefficient calculation of NMDB stations

Abstract

Abstract. One of the most important data corrections related to the primary data processing of the neutron monitors is the pressure correction due to the barometric effect. This effect induces considerable variation in the counting rate of a cosmic ray detector which is not related to the real variation of the cosmic rays flux but only to the local atmospheric pressure of the station. In order to provide the worldwide neutron monitor network with good quality data, a correction has to be made that requires the calculation of the barometric coefficient. A new method that effectively calculates the barometric coefficient for a station using data of a reference station in order to subtract the primary variations of cosmic rays is presented in this work. Moreover, this method is the prototype of an online tool that uses data of the NMDB stations and calculates the barometric coefficient for any available station. This tool is also presented.

An Alternative Incoming Correction for Cosmic‐Ray Neutron Sensing Observations Using Local Muon Measurement

“…At first, the variability of neutron flux is due to solar activities (Simpson, 2000). Neutrons are attenuated by the mass of the air (Desilets & Zreda, 2001; Paschalis et al., 2013). Specifically, air pressure variations modify the absorption, decay and generation effects on secondary cosmic rays, producing a variation of their intensity, anti‐correlated to atmospheric pressure fluctuations (Dorman, 2004; Sagisaka, 1986).…”