Solar modulation of cosmic rays since 1936: Neutron monitors and balloon-borne data

摘要

We present a series of reconstructed monthly values of the so-called modulation potential, often used to parameterize the energy spectrum of galactic cosmic rays, for the period from July 1936 through December 2010. This work extends our earlier study by employing new data and improving the reconstruction method. The reconstructed series has been tested against long-term data of balloon-borne measurements of flux of cosmic ray ionizing radiation in the stratosphere performed by the Lebedev Physical Institute since 1957. The comparison shows good general agreement. Some minor discrepancies during solar minimum years with negative heliospheric magnetic field polarity may be related to possible deviations of the lowest energy part of the GCR spectrum from the force-field approximation.