Studying variations of muon flux on the Earth’s surface, based on muon hodoscope data during nonstationary atmospheric processes
The first results are presented from the long-term experiment on registration of the response of the muon flux of cosmic rays to nonstationary atmospheric phenomena (storms) using the URAGAN muon hodoscope. The potential of the muon hodoscope enables us to register changes in the local anisotropy of the muon flux, the results from the analysis of which indicate the sensitivity of the penetrating component of cosmic rays to turbulent disturbances in the atmosphere during thunderstorms. Based on the analysis of 12 events in the Moscow region between May and September 2009, it is shown that the response of the muon flux is characteristic of the majority of thunderstorms, both in the general count rate and in the zenith-azimuthal distribution of intensity.