The annual cosmic-radiation intensities 1391 – 2014; the annual heliospheric magnetic field strengths 1391 – 1983, and identification of solar cosmic-ray events in the cosmogenic record 1800 – 1983

• Published in: Solar Physics
• Main Authors: McCracken, K.G., Beer, J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2015
• Subjects: cosmogenic Be-10; solar cosmic-ray modulation; solar cosmic rays; interplanetary magnetic field; Greenland; Dye 3; Dye-3; Greenland ice core; Greenland Ice core Project; ice core; NGRIP; North Greenland; North Greenland Ice Core Project
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-015-0777-x

The annual cosmogenic 10 Be ice-core data from Dye 3 and the North Greenland Ice-core Project (NGRIP), and neutron-monitor data, 1951 – 2014, are combined to yield a record of the annual cosmic-ray intensity, 1391 – 2014. These data were then used to estimate the intensity of the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF), 1391 – 1983. All of these annual data are provided in the Electronic Supplementary Material. Analysis of these annual data shows that there were significant impulsive increases in 10 Be production in the year following the very large solar cosmic-ray events of 1942, 1949, and 1956. There was an additional enhancement that we attribute to six high-altitude nuclear explosions in 1962. All of these enhancements result in underestimates of the strength of the HMF. An identification process is defined, resulting in a total of seven impulsive 10 Be events in the interval 1800 – 1942 prior to the first detection of a solar cosmic-ray event using ionization chambers. Excision of the 10 Be impulsive enhancements yields a new estimate of the HMF, designated B(PCR-2). Five of the seven 10 Be enhancements prior to 1941 are well correlated with the occurrence of very great geomagnetic storms. It is shown that a solar cosmic-ray event similar to that of 25 July 1946, and occurring in the middle of the second or third year of the solar cycle, may merge with the initial decreasing phase of the 11-year cycle in cosmic-ray intensity and be unlikely to be detected in the 10 Be data. It is concluded that the occurrence rate for solar energetic-particle (SEP) events such as that on 23 February 1956 is about seven per century, and that there is an upper limit to the size of solar cosmic-ray events.