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Atmospheric attenuation length for relativistic solar protons
Author(s) -
Ahluwalia H. S.,
Xue S. S.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/93gl01115
Subject(s) - physics , attenuation , solar flare , earth's magnetic field , neutron monitor , proton , range (aeronautics) , cosmic ray , atmosphere (unit) , solar minimum , computational physics , astrophysics , nuclear physics , solar cycle , optics , meteorology , magnetic field , solar wind , materials science , plasma , composite material , quantum mechanics
We compute the mean attenuation length (λ f ) in Earth's atmosphere for the protons produced in the solar flare of 29 September 1989. We use data obtained with three pairs of neutron monitors. The detectors in the pair have very similar values of the geomagnetic vertical cut‐off rigidity (R 0 ) and overlapping asymptotic cones of acceptance but they differ in terms of the altitudes of the observing sites. We apply Wilson et al [1967] method to compute the values of λ f for the three representative pairs which cover a range of solar proton rigidities. The computed mean values of λ f are significantly larger than the consensus value of (100±5) g cm −2 reported in the literature [Duggal, 1979]. Also, they exhibit a linear correlation with R 0 .