| 2000-06-21 10:54:38 |
Aragats Space Environmental Center Adds New Detector Facility
The Cosmic Ray Division (CRD) of the Yerevan Physics Institute in Armenia is dedicated to keeping the study of cosmic phenomena alive in Armenia. The director of the Cosmic Ray Division, Dr. Ashot Chilingarian, works diligently and relentlessly to keep Armenia in the forefront of this fast growing science. There are 25 physicist, 15 engineers, 10 technicians, and 55 other supportpersonnel working at the two Cosmic Ray stations (one at Nor-Amberd 2000 m up on Mt. Aragats and the other near the top of Mt. Aragats at 3200 m) plus the headquarters in Yerevan. Typically the staff rotates between working on the mountain and working in Yerevan in 3 week shifts. Activities, progress, as well as on-line data from our monitors can be seen by visiting our internet site: http://crdlx5.yerphi.am. This year the Aragats Solar Environment Center (ASEC) is established as an added research project taking advantage of the unique opportunities because of the two high altitude stations. The Cosmic Ray Division has been equipped to conduct effective multifaceted monitoring and research of Solar Energetic Phenomena (SEP) in the frame of its ongoing projects "Solar-Terrestrial Connections" and "Investigation of Solar Energetic Phenomena in the 23rd Solar Cycle". Currently the data acquisition is in progress and continues to grow in quality and quantity. We have enlarged our detection capabilities by commissioning the Aragats Neutron Monitor (NM). With this addition we now have three installations for detecting solar activity: the NM at 2000m, the solar telescope at 3200 m, and the new NM at 3200 m. The data from all three of these monitors iscontinually displayed on our internet site.Given the high altitude of our three detectors, we have the unique opportunity to register particles with much less energy than with detectors at sea level. And given the 1200 m altitude difference between our neutron monitors we are able to measure the attenuation of the fluxes due to energyabsorption in atmosphere a special capability available only at Aragats as far as we know. Thus the combination of our three high altitude detectors, all of which register and display real-time data, improves our chances to fully investigate modulation effects of Galactic Cosmic Rays. The addition of this family of high altitude ground based SEP detectors provides more economic, timely and reliable ways of forecasting, detecting, and warning against the severe geomagnetic and radiation storms. Our preliminary results can as well as all progress and reports from the Cosmic Ray Division of the Yerevan Physics Institute in Armenia can be seen on the above mentioned internet site. Currently we are analyzing the data from our three high altitude installations and trying to correlate the Cosmic Ray intensity variations measured by our ground-based installations with those measured on satellite-born apparatus. The aim is to inform customers in advance of the occurrence of these events, to allow various systems time for protective measures. The ideal high-altitude location, the equipment and data analysis techniques of the Cosmic Ray Division in Armenia make it possible to warn against radiation storms 30 to 60 minutes in advance, ample time for corrective action against hazards. A fourth installation, a multidirectional muon telescope, is currently being commissioned at the Nor- Amberd station at 2000m. The high altitude stations on Mt. Aragats are ideally located to be part of the growing global space and ground based network for Space Weather monitoring and forecasting and would be a valuable addition to the world-wide network of Cosmic Ray Stations for NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in the US and ESA in Europe.