Bibcode
Laken, Benjamin; Wolfendale, Arnold; Kniveton, Dominic
Bibliographical reference
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 36, Issue 23, CiteID L23803
Advertised on:
12
2009
Journal
Citations
30
Refereed citations
28
Description
Svensmark et al. (2009) have recently claimed that strong galactic
cosmic ray (GCR) decreases during ‘Forbush Decrease (FD)
events’ are followed by decreases in both the global liquid water
cloud fraction (LCF) and other closely correlated atmospheric
parameters. To test the validity of these findings we have concentrated
on just one property, the MODIS LCF and examined two aspects: 1) The
statistical chance that the decrease observed in the LCF is abnormal. 2)
The likelihood of the observed delay (˜5 to 9 days) being
physically connected to the FD events. On both counts we conclude that
LCF variations are unrelated to FD events: Both the pattern and timing
of observed LCF changes are irreconcilable with current theoretical
pathways. Additionally, a zonal analysis of LCF variations also offers
no support to the claimed relationship, as the observed anomaly is not
found to vary latitudinally in conjunction with cosmic ray intensity.