Abstract
Man-made neutron monitors have provided a continuous detailed record of the cosmic-ray flux over only about the last 5 decades. Fortunately, nature operates its own detectors and offers the opportunity to extend the cosmic-ray records over much longer time scales. Two different types of ‘natural detectors’ can be distinguished. The first is based on long lived radionuclides that are produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere and subsequently become stored in archives such as ice sheets or tree rings. The second type are rocks that are exposed to cosmic-rays at a certain time and from then on integrate the production of cosmogenic nuclides over the whole exposure time. The analysis of 10Be in polar ice cores and 14C in tree rings clearly reveals solar and geomagnetic modulation of the cosmic-ray flux on different time scales ranging from decades (11-year Schwabe cycle) to millennia.
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Beer, J. (2000). Neutron Monitor Records in Broader Historical Context. In: Bieber, J.W., Eroshenko, E., Evenson, P., Flückiger, E.O., Kallenbach, R. (eds) Cosmic Rays and Earth. Space Sciences Series of ISSI, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1187-6_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1187-6_6
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