Magnetospheric effects on cosmic rays during the magnetic storm of March 2015

Eleni Ntina (1), Maria Gerontidou (1), Helen Mavromichalaki (1), Maria Abunina (2), Anatoly Belov (2), Victor Yanke (2), Angelos Laoutaris (1)
(1) Nuclear and Particle Physics Section, Physics Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
(2) Institude of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Propagation, IZMIRAN, Russia

Cosmic ray variations of magnetospheric origin during the magnetic storm on 17th of March 2015 were studied. Cosmic ray intensity data were obtained from the neutron monitor database (NMDB) and the data of the Dst index were taken from World Data Center for Geomagnetism, Kyoto. The global survey method was employed for the calculation of changes in the cutoff rigidities throughout the storm. A correlation analysis between the Dst index and the calculated cutoff rigidity variations was performed for each cosmic ray station. It was resulted that the most essential decrease in cutoff rigidities occured when the Dst index was around the value of -234nT. A latitudinal distribution of the cutoff rigidities was acquired, showing that the maximum effect took place at mid-latitude stations with rigidities around 8-9GV. During the examined event the maximum change in cutoff rigidity was observed at Athens station where the decrease of the cutoff rigidity reached the value of 1.1GV. Furthermore, corrections of cosmic ray intensity due to the magnetospheric effect were calculated using the derived cutoff rigidities showing a discrepancy with the observed values at mid- and low- latitude stations.

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