Effects of Cosmic Ray Variability on Earth Environment

Dear Colleagues,

The sun is the most important driving force of the atmospheric processes on the Earth. As such, variation is attributed to the variation in solar radiation and its modulation by Earth’s orbit. However, a wide variety of these variations have been attributed to cosmic rays of galactic/solar origin. Despite the fact that the energy input from cosmic rays in the atmosphere is less than 10–8 times the direct energy amount from the sun, the rays are the only source of ion production in the lower atmosphere. Therefore, the processes that depend on the electrical properties of the atmosphere, namely the atmospheric electric current or formation of clouds and lightning, can be affected by cosmic rays. The low energy portion of the cosmic ray spectrum (i.e., less than 10 GeV) undergoes an 11 year modulation and galactic particles decrease when the activity period changes from the minimum to the maximum. As the energy of cosmic ray particles is lost in exciting and ionizing atoms in the atmosphere, it is expected that this effect should be more important during the period of minimum activity. It has been shown that the total cloudiness and precipitation is reduced when cosmic rays flux in the interplanetary space, and the atmosphere decreases. Recent studies and reconstruction/modeling of past climate changes revealed a clear association with cosmic ray variation recorded in cosmogenic isotope archives. 

This Special Issue offers authors an opportunity to publish articles on the link between cosmic ray variation (on multiple time-scales) and changes in various aspects of the Earth’s atmosphere.  The effects that took place in the past (remote or recent) could help us understand the present and provide enough information to help us in the future. As mankind continues to conquer space, we will increasingly need to know how space climate and space weather can affect our activities.

Dr. Matteo Martucci
Guest Editor

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• cosmic rays
• solar particle events
• ground level enhancements
• forbush decrease
• day/night variation
• climate
• space weather