Cosmic Rays Detected Deep Underground Reveal Secrets Of The Upper Atmosphere

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 11:42 in Astronomy & Space

Cosmic-rays detected half a mile underground in a disused U.S. iron-mine can be used to detect major weather events occurring 20 miles up in the Earth's upper atmosphere, a new study has revealed. Scientists were surprised to see intermittent and sudden increases in the levels of muons during the winter months. These jumps in the data occurred over just a few days. On investigation, they found these changes coincided with very sudden increases in the temperature of the stratosphere (by up to 40 deg C in places).

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