Responses to solar cosmic rays of neutron monitors of a various design

Abstract The modeled and observed responses of neutron monitors of two various types: the standard 3-NM-64 and a leadless neutron moderated detector 4NMD at the SANAE South African Antarctic station during a number of large GLE events were compared to precise the specific yield of the NMD at low rigidity range. The parameters of primary relativistic solar protons outside magnetosphere: rigidity spectrum, anisotropy direction and pitch angle distribution were determined on data of the worldwide NM-64 neutron monitor network by modeling technique. The modeling included: definition of asymptotic viewing cones of the neutron monitor (NM) stations under study by the particle trajectory computations in a model magnetosphere [Tsyganenko, N.A. A model of the near magnetosphere with a down-dusk asymmetry: 1. Mathematical structure. Geophys. Res. 107(A8) 1176, doi: 10.101029/2001JA000219, 2002a; Tsyganenko, N.A. A model of the near magnetosphere with a down-dusk asymmetry: 2. Parameterization and fitting to observations. J. Geophys. Res. 107(A8) 1179, doi: 10.1029/2001JA000220, 2002b.]; calculation of the NM responses at variable primary solar proton flux parameters; determination of primary solar proton parameters outside the magnetosphere by a least square procedure at comparison of computed NM responses with observations. Then the response of both neutron monitors NM-64 and leadless NMD was calculated using the specific yield functions obtained earlier in the latitude and high-altitude survey of both instruments [Stoker, P.H. Spectra of solar proton ground level events using neutron monitor and neutron moderated detector recordings. in: Proc. 19th ICRC La Jolla, vol. 4, pp. 114–117, 1985; Stoker, P.H. Relativistic solar proton events, Space Sci. Rev. 73, 327–385, 1994.]. By fitting modeled responses to observations in a number of large GLEs the specific yield function for the NMD detector was adjusted so that it precisely described the response to solar cosmic rays.