Effects of interplanetary magnetic clouds, interaction regions, and high‐speed streams on the transient modulation of galactic cosmic rays

Abstract

Interplanetary manifestations of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) with specific plasma and field properties, called “interplanetary magnetic clouds,” have been observed in the heliosphere since the mid‐1960s. Depending on their associated features, a set of observed magnetic clouds identified at 1 AU were grouped in four different classes using data over 4 decades: (1) interplanetary magnetic clouds moving with the ambient solar wind (MC structure), (2) magnetic clouds moving faster than the ambient solar wind and forming a shock/sheath structure of compressed plasma and field ahead of it (SMC structure), (3) magnetic clouds “pushed” by the high‐speed streams from behind, forming an interaction region between the two (MIH structure), and (4) shock‐associated magnetic clouds followed by high‐speed streams (SMH structure). This classification into different groups led us to study the role, effect, and the relative importance of (1) closed field magnetic cloud structure with low field variance, (2) interplanetary shock and magnetically turbulent sheath region, (3) interaction region with large field variance, and (4) the high‐speed solar wind stream coming from the open field regions, in modulating the galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). MC structures are responsible for transient decrease with fast recovery. SMC structures are responsible for fast decrease and slow recovery, MIH structures produce depression with slow decrease and slow recovery, and SMH structures are responsible for fast decrease with very slow recovery. Simultaneous variations of GCR intensity, solar plasma velocity, interplanetary magnetic field strength, and its variance led us to study the relative effectiveness of different structures as well as interplanetary plasma/field parameters. Possible role of the magnetic field, its topology, field turbulence, and the high‐speed streams in influencing the amplitude and time profile of resulting decreases in GCR intensity have also been discussed.