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Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
Fig. 10 | Progress in Earth and Planetary Science

Fig. 10

From: Solar evolution and extrema: current state of understanding of long-term solar variability and its planetary impacts

Fig. 10

Modulation of cosmic ray flux at Earth by the solar magnetic cycle. The top panel depicts variations in the flux of cosmic rays as measured by neutron monitors and the bottom panel shows the sunspot time series. At times of strong (low) solar activity, the cosmic ray flux is low (high). This modulation of cosmic ray flux is enabled by the solar magnetic fields via the solar wind—creating the heliospheric open magnetic flux. Monthly averaged cosmic ray flux data is obtained from the World Data Center for Cosmic Rays (WDCCR). For the time period 1953–2006, the data is from CLIMAX station, from 2007 to 2017, the data is from FORT SMITH station, and beyond 2017, the data is from BAKSAN station. This composite plot combines cosmic ray flux count from three different stations with different geomagnetic rigidity cutoffs, e.g., CLIMAX (~ 3 GV), FORT SMITH (0.3 GV, viz. polar station), BAKSAN (~ 6 GV). In order to illustrate the overall qualitative trend, the whole time series data is normalized to the cosmic ray flux count of CLIMAX station

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