Characteristic Features of Solar Cosmic Rays in the 21st–24th Solar-Activity Cycles According to Data from Catalogs of Solar Proton Events

Abstract

Homogeneous series of solar cosmic-ray events for four solar-activity cycles against the background of decreased activity in cycles 23 and 24 are considered. The number of solar cosmic-ray events with energies above 10 MeV decreased insignificantly, while the number of ground-level enhancements in comparison between cycles 23 and 24 decreased by eight times. It is shown that the average contribution of flares to the generation of ground-level enhancements decreased from cycle 23 to cycle 24 by three times, and the average contribution of coronal mass ejections decreased by five times; the average contribution of flares to the generation of solar cosmic rays with energy >10 MeV decreased by 1.3 times, and the average contribution of coronal mass ejections increased by 1.4 times.