Atmospheric Variations as observed by IceCube

• Main Authors: Tilav, Serap, Desiati, Paolo, Kuwabara, Takao, Rocco, Dominick, Rothmaier, Florian, Simmons, Matt, Wissing, Henrike
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2010
• Subjects: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena astro-ph.HE; Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph; FOS Physical sciences; Antarctic; The Antarctic; South Pole; Antarc*; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1001.0776; https://arxiv.org/abs/1001.0776

We have measured the correlation of rates in IceCube with long and short term variations in the South Pole atmosphere. The yearly temperature variation in the middle stratosphere (30-60 hPa) is highly correlated with the high energy muon rate observed deep in the ice, and causes a +/-10% seasonal modulation in the event rate. The counting rates of the surface detectors, which are due to secondary particles of relatively low energy (muons, electrons and photons), have a negative correlation with temperatures in the lower layers of the stratosphere (40-80 hPa), and are modulated at a level of +/-5%. The region of the atmosphere between pressure levels 20-120 hPa, where the first cosmic ray interactions occur and the produced pions/kaons interact or decay to muons, is the Antarctic ozone layer. The anticorrelation between surface and deep ice trigger rates reflects the properties of pion/kaon decay and interaction as the density of the stratospheric ozone layer changes. Therefore, IceCube closely probes the ozone hole dynamics, and the temporal behavior of the stratospheric temperatures. : 4 pages, Proceedings of the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland, July 2009