Variations in temperature at different isobaric levels of the atmosphere, according to data on cosmic rays

Yanchukovsky, V. L.; Sunyakov, S. A.; Kuzmenko, Vasiliy

doi:10.3103/s1062873815050445

“…In the light of those very promising results, it is surprising to these authors that such natural extensions were not pursued. In fact, more recent studies have endeavored to obtain the temperature for more atmospheric layers by using a single detector and measurements at different angles (e.g., Yanchukovsky, 2020; Yanchukovsky et al., 2007; Yanchukovsky et al., 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting the Limits of Atmospheric Temperature Retrieval From Cosmic‐Ray Measurements

Riádigos

¹

,

González-Díaz

²

,

Pérez‐Muñuzuri

³

2022

Earth and Space Science

0

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A priori, cosmic‐ray measurements offer a unique capability to determine the vertical profile of atmospheric temperatures directly from ground. However, despite the increased understanding of the impact of the atmosphere on cosmic‐ray rates, attempts to explore the technological potential of the latter for atmospheric physics remain very limited. In this paper, we examine the intrinsic limits of the process of cosmic‐ray data inversion for atmospheric temperature retrieval, by combining a detection station at ground with another one placed at an optimal depth, and making full use of the angular information. With that aim, the temperature‐induced variations in cosmic rays (c.r.) rates have been simulated resorting to the theoretical temperature coefficients WT(h, θ, Eth) and the temperature profiles obtained from the ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis. Muon absorption and Poisson statistics have been included to increase realism. The resulting c.r. sample has been used as input for the inverse problem and the obtained temperatures compared to the input temperature data. Relative to early simulation works, performed without using angular information and relying on underground temperature coefficients from a suboptimal depth, our analysis shows a strong improvement in temperature predictability for all atmospheric layers up to 50 hPa, nearing a factor 2 error reduction. Furthermore, the temperature predictability on 6‐h intervals stays well within the range 0.8–2.2 K. Most remarkably, we show that it can be achieved with small‐area m2‐scale muon hodoscopes, amenable nowadays to a large variety of technologies. For mid‐latitude locations, the optimal depth of the underground station is around 20 m.

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Muon Intensity Variations and Atmospheric Temperature

Yanchukovsky

¹

2020

Solar-Terrestrial Physics

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Muons in the atmosphere are formed during the decay of pions resulting from nuclear interactions of cosmic rays with nuclei of air atoms. The resulting muons are also unstable particles with a short lifetime. Therefore, not all of them reach the level of observation in the atmosphere. When the atmospheric temperature changes, the distance to the observation level changes too, thus leading to variations in the intensity of muons of temperature origin. These variations, caused by atmospheric temperature variations, are superimposed on continuous observations of muon telescopes. Their exclusion is, therefore, extremely necessary, especially in the data from modern muon telescopes whose statistical accuracy is very high. The contribution of various atmospheric layers to the total temperature effect is not the same for muons. This contribution is characterized by the distribution of the density of temperature coefficients for muons in the atmosphere. Using this distribution and the continuous intensity observations from the muon telescope in Novosibirsk, the inverse problem has been solved, from the solution of which the atmospheric temperature variations over a long period from 2004 to 2011 have been found. The results obtained are compared with aerological sounding data.

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Muon intensity variations and atmospheric temperature

Yanchukovsky

¹

2020

Solnechno-Zemnaya Fizika

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Muons in the atmosphere are formed during the decay of pions resulting from nuclear interactions of cosmic rays with nuclei of air atoms. The resulting muons are also unstable particles with a short lifetime. Therefore, not all of them reach the level of observation in the atmosphere. When the atmospheric temperature changes, the distance to the observation level changes too, thus leading to variations in the intensity of muons of temperature origin. These variations, caused by atmospheric temperature variations, are superimposed on continuous observations of muon telescopes. Their exclusion is, therefore, extremely necessary, especially in the data from modern muon telescopes whose statistical accuracy is very high. The contribution of various atmospheric layers to the total temperature effect is not the same for muons. This contribution is characterized by the distribution of the density of temperature coefficients for muons in the atmosphere. Using this distribution and the continuous intensity observations from the muon telescope in Novosibirsk, the inverse problem has been solved, from the solution of which the atmospheric temperature variations over a long period from 2004 to 2011 have been found. The results obtained are compared with aerological sounding data.

show abstract

Variations in temperature at different isobaric levels of the atmosphere, according to data on cosmic rays

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Revisiting the Limits of Atmospheric Temperature Retrieval From Cosmic‐Ray Measurements

Revisiting the Limits of Atmospheric Temperature Retrieval From Cosmic‐Ray Measurements

Muon Intensity Variations and Atmospheric Temperature

Muon intensity variations and atmospheric temperature

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