A Forbush decrease is a rapid decrease in the observed galactic cosmic ray intensity following a coronal mass ejection (CME). It occurs due to the magnetic field of the plasma solar wind sweeping some of the galactic cosmic rays away from Earth.
Well we have that going on in a dramatic way right now, it’s been going on since late yesterday. See the Oulu neutron monitor (a proxy for cosmic rays) graph:
That’s a screencap, you can monitor it live on the WUWT solar page here.
The term Forbush decrease was named after the American physicist Scott E. Forbush, who studied cosmic rays in the 1930s and 1940s.
tallbloke says:
February 22, 2011 at 7:55 am
Nice to see a smiley in there Leif. Good on you for making a prediction too. 🙂
Usually a smiley means that one doesn’t really mean it too seriously. Is that also the meaning of your smiley?
vukcevic says:
February 21, 2011 at 12:52 pm
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OMG..that was wild. Thanks Vuks.
2009 by comparison whew.. watch those vectors..
AT one point on the halloween scene thought ol Sol got sucker punched from behind and all the background noise starts flowing the other way..4way solar reconnection or something weird..
When watching the 2009 Lasco keep in mind the solar reconnection locations producing source surface fields, cause by then the polar fields were squat..lol