Solar minimum and cosmic rays

It is known that cosmic ray influx increases during solar minima and
decrease during solar maxima due to fluctuations in solar magnetic activity.
I am wondering if NASA or JPL actually monitor cosmic ray flux and know this
to be true.

As I right this letter, and send my thoughts to you on this, I presume the
concentration of C14 is increasing due to the greater number of collisions
between cosmic rays and N14. Also, recently the most powerful GRB ever
recorded actually impacted the earth. Is it safe to say that these events
would increase C14 in the atmosphere also?

www.spaceweather.com

www.spaceweather.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
www.spaceweather.com


It doesn't deal with what I am asking.

Mike Thomas wrote:
snip
[Q1.] I am wondering if NASA or JPL actually monitor cosmic ray flux
and know this
to be true.

Real time solar protons, neutrons, xrays and the solar cycle
progression -

Space Environment Center - generally
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

Space Environment Center - Data products index
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/Data/index.html

I don't see gamma rays on the list.

[Q2.] Is it safe to say that these events [GRB and solar flux] would
increase
C14 in the atmosphere also?

Don't know the answer to this one.

- Canopus56

P.S. -

Another useful resource on real-time solar emissions at various
wavelengths - The Soho Space Weather Control Panel
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

Not specifically on the solar cycle, but as to "NASA monitoriing" see
non-solar sources -

All Sky Monitor on board the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Mission -
Rossi hompage
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/xte_1st.html

NASA x-ray and gamma-ray satellite data gateway:
Nasa's High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
(HEASARC)
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Chandra X-Ray observatory homepage
http://chandra.harvard.edu/index.html

"canopus56" wrote in message
oups.com...
Mike Thomas wrote:
snip
[Q1.] I am wondering if NASA or JPL actually monitor cosmic ray flux
and know this
to be true.

Real time solar protons, neutrons, xrays and the solar cycle
progression -

Space Environment Center - generally
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

Space Environment Center - Data products index
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/Data/index.html

I don't see gamma rays on the list.

[Q2.] Is it safe to say that these events [GRB and solar flux] would
increase
C14 in the atmosphere also?

Don't know the answer to this one.

- Canopus56

P.S. -



You seem to be focusing on solar EMR, not cosmic particles ie. origins from
outside the solar system

The GRB may have been large, but it occurs over a very small time
interval. The normal cosmic ray "flux" bombarding earth continues
"around the clock". The result being any flux "increase" due to the GRB
is like adding a single wave to the daily pounding of the surf against
the shore. Any additional effect is so small that it is "lost" and
would be virtually impossible to observe.

On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 17:32:53 GMT, Mike Thomas wrote:

It is known that cosmic ray influx increases during solar minima and
decrease during solar maxima due to fluctuations in solar magnetic activity.
I am wondering if NASA or JPL actually monitor cosmic ray flux and know this
to be true.

Yes, cosmic ray impacts with Earth vary with the solar cycle as you've
indicated. The magnetic field due to charged particles of the solar wind
in Earth's vicinity deflects cosmic rays and the field's strength varies
with solar activity. I don't know of any NASA or JPL (part of NASA)
programs to monitor this but it's been shown before.

As I right this letter, and send my thoughts to you on this, I presume the
concentration of C14 is increasing due to the greater number of collisions
between cosmic rays and N14. Also, recently the most powerful GRB ever
recorded actually impacted the earth. Is it safe to say that these events
would increase C14 in the atmosphere also?

C14 concentration has been shown to vary with solar activity. I doubt a
single GRB could have a measurable impact on the C14 concentration, though.

Mike Simmons

Mike Thomas wrote:
"canopus56" wrote in message
oups.com...
snip all
Mike Thomas wrote:
You seem to be focusing on solar EMR, not cosmic particles ie. origins from
outside the solar system.

I apologize if I misread your post as not being limited to gamma and
x-rays. Cosmic rays are typically defined as all energetic particles
originating outside the Earth. Over 95% of those particles are protons
and alpha particles. Only a narrow subset, less than 3%, are in the
gamma ray and x-ray category that your post is targeted at.

snip
[Q1.] I am wondering if NASA or JPL actually monitor cosmic ray flux
and know this

Satellites involved in GRB monitoring historically included and current
include the following:

The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the now deorbited
Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory did such monitoring and included
discovery of atmospheric lightening generated bursts and did all sky
monitoring.
See 1999 News story
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/head...d26may99_1.htm

- and more recent news story with followup on RHESSI detectors -

Maggie McKee. 2/17/2005. Earth creates powerful gamma-ray flashes.
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn7025
("They found 86 TGFs over six months, extrapolating this data suggests
that about 50 events occur around the world every day. And RHESSI's
detectors showed the photons had about 100 times as much energy as
those measured by Compton.")

Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) homepage:
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn7025

Other currently orbiting satellites that can detect GRB's a

SWIFT - Burst Alert Telescope (BAT): 15 - 150 keV
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/swiftsc.html

HETE2 - Wide-field x-ray monitor (WXM)
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/hete2/

Integral - ESO
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/in...tegralgof.html

A consolidated list of detected GRB's from all satellites can be found
at -

Swift Gamma-ray Burst Real-time Sky Map
http://grb.sonoma.edu/

[Q2.] Is it safe to say that these events [GRB and solar flux] would
increase C14 in the atmosphere also?

I do not know if GRB's currently alter the chemistry of the Earth's
atmosphere, as you suggest, but this is a topic I do not know much
about. I'm not up on the physics, but I suspect that as to current GRB
detections, that the amount of energy involved is not sufficient to
alter atmospheric chemistry in any meaningful way.

A few super GRBs (SGRBs) have been detected over the last 25 years. One
was described having had "an intensity slightly less than that of a
dental X-ray" - covering half the surface of the Earth.
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/head...t29sep98_2.htm

There two main links between GRBs and the terresterial environment that
I am aware of.

First, was an April 2005 suggestion that SGRBs or nearby GRBs may have
been responsible for terresterial extinctions by breaking the
"molecular nitrogen (N2) into nitrogen atoms, which react with
molecular oxygen (O2) to form nitric oxide (NO). NO will destroy ozone
(O3) and produce nitrogen dioxide (NO2). NO2 will then react with
atomic oxygen to reform NO. More NO means more ozone destruction."
NASA. Explosions in Space May Have Initiated Ancient Extinction on
Earth. Press Release 05-094
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005...xtinction.html

The second, and the one that most fascinates me, is the link suggested
in Feb. 2005 that GRBs trigger lightning flashes in the atmosphere. No
ancient stars exploding half-way across the universe - less lightning
on the Earth.

NASA. 2-17-2005. NASA Satellite Observes Mysterious Earth Energy. Nasa
Press Release 05-054
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005...th_Energy.html

NASA. 2005. Flashes in the Sky: Earth's Gamma-Ray Bursts Triggered by
Lightning. Website.
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/...hessi_tgf.html

GRBs and lightning are one of those key links between astronomy and
daily life that is refreshing to ponder. The "crack" of lightning that
I hear during a spring storm may have been triggered by an ancient star
dying half-way across the known universe.

If you run across anything suggesting a direct link between GRBs and
alterations in the chemistry of the upper atmosphere, please post it.
I'd like to keep current on the topic.

Hope this is more on point.

- Enjoy - Canopus56

Hope this is more on point.

- Enjoy - Canopus56


LOL..you are so far off of what I was asking it's amazing.
So, I know you don't know.