Definitions
Cosmic-ray hydrometeorology. The science of measuring hydrologic variables through their effects on secondary cosmic-ray intensity.
Primary cosmic ray. A charged particle, usually a proton, traveling toward Earth at relativistic speed.
Secondary cosmic ray. An energetic proton, neutron, or other subatomic particle generated as a consequence of primary cosmic rays colliding with the Earth.
Introduction
Cosmic rays continually bombard Earth, giving rise to a small but measureable flux of background neutrons at the land surface. These ambient neutrons respond strongly to the presence of land surface water in the form of soil moisture and snow or more specifically to the hydrogen which that water contains. The unique ability of hydrogen to influence neutron intensity has been known since the discovery of the neutron itself in the 1930s, when the mysterious nonionizing radiation was first identified through its ability to scatter hydrogen nuclei from paraffin (Chadwick, 1932),...
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Desilets, D., Zreda, M. (2014). Cosmic-Ray Hydrometeorology. In: Njoku, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_208
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_208
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