Forbush decreases observed by Daejeon neutron monitor

Abstract

The neutron monitor (NM) is a ground-based detector designed to estimate the cosmic ray intensity by measuring secondary particles. In October 2011, an NM64-type NM with a vertical cutoff rigidity of 11.2GV was installed at Daejeon in Korea. It has produced reliable cosmic ray data after detector stabilization. In order to examine the reliability of cosmic ray data collected by the Daejeon NM, we select Forbush decreases (FDs) that occurred during the three years of 2012–2014. We also analyze the FDs at the Oulu NM in Finland in order to identify and compare them. We identify 37 FDs at both Daejeon and Oulu NMs. Student t-test analysis reveals that FDs at Daejeon have smaller intensity variation of main phase and shorter duration of main phase than those at the Oulu NM. Of the 37 FDs, 17 are simultaneous and 20 are non-simultaneous. The intensity variation of simultaneous FDs is larger than that of non-simultaneous FDs at both NMs with high confidence levels in the Student t-test. Most of the non-simultaneous FDs that have an onset time in the dayside hold typical properties of non-simultaneous FDs. Our study results demonstrate that the Daejeon NM can provide cosmic ray data of reliability comparable to that of the Oulu NM. As one of only a few NMs worldwide with a high vertical cutoff rigidity exceeding 10.0GV, the Daejeon NM will continue to provide important information on higher-energy cosmic ray spectra.