PARAMETERIZATION OF COSMIC-RADIATION AT SEA-LEVEL

In the marine atmosphere, small ions are produced mainly by cosmic rad iation. The production rate q of small ion pairs at sea level is modul ated in time by the 11-year sunspot cycle. Cosmic radiation is deflect ed in the magnetosphere by Lorentz forces and, consequently, q is also modulated with respect to geomagnetic latitude. Comparing empirical v alues of q, observed on different locations at different times, only m akes sense when both the solar and the latitude modulations are accoun ted for. A review of the literature on cosmic radiation at sea level h as resulted in a most probable parameterization of both of these modul ations in the present study.