Aragats space-environmental centre: status and SEP forecasting possibilities

Abstract

The Aragats Space Environment Center in Armenia provides real-time monitoring of cosmic particle fluxes. Neutron monitors operating at altitudes of 2000 m and 3200 m on Mt Aragats continuously gather data to detect possible abrupt enhancement of the count rates. Additional high precision detectors, measuring muon and electron fluxes, along with directional information have been put in operation on Mt Aragats in the summer of 2002. We plan to use this information to establish an early warning system against extreme solar energetic particle (SEP) events which pose danger to the satellite electronics and the space station crew. Solar ion and proton fluxes as measured by space-borne sensors on ACE and GOES satellites are used to derive expected arrival times of highest energy ions at 1 AU. The peaks in the time series detected by Aragats neutron monitors, coincided with these times, demonstrate the possibility of early detection of SEP events using the ground-based detectors.

Statistical study of the detection of solar protons of highest energies at 20 January 2005

“…Particle detectors of the Aragats Space-Environmental Center (ASEC, see Chilingarian et al, 2003Chilingarian et al, , 2005) detected significant excess of count rates at 7:00-8:00 UT. From 7:02 to 7:04 UT, the Aragats Multichannel Muon Monitor (AMMM) detected a peak with significance $4r.…”

Advanced data acquisition system for SEVAN

“…Hybrid particle monitors at Aragats Space Environmental Center (ASEC, Chilingarian et al, 2003) measure both charged and neutral components of secondary cosmic rays and provide a good coverage of different species of secondary cosmic rays with different energy thresholds. A multivariate correlation analysis of the detected fluxes of charged and neutral particles is used for analysis of geoeffective events, i.e.…”

On transmissivity of low energy cosmic rays in disturbed magnetosphere

“…Relevance of cosmic rays as one of the parameters for the forecasts of space weather effects is checked during the past decade and special networks/systems are created (e.g. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]). Also the direct relations of cosmic rays to space weather are studied (e.g.…”