Near 13.5-day periodicity in Muon Detector data during late 2001 and early 2002 Original Research Article

In this study we perform a continuous Morlet wavelet transform method in time series of secondary cosmic rays and 1 AU interplanetary medium parameters for the interval from October 2001 to October 2002. The near 13.5-day periodicity was obtained during late 2001, and it was remarkable for muon data. Even though some works have pointed out that the main activations of the 13.5 day recurrence in near-Earth solar wind are related, e.g., with the heliosheet crossings or to the occurrence at 1 AU of two high speed streams approximately 180° apart in solar longitude per solar rotation, we aim to show that the period of about half the solar rotation during the end months of 2001 present in muon time series was apparently due to the occurrence of non-recurrent interplanetary disturbances. The interconnections among successive Forbush decreases, recovery phases and gradual muon depressions (associated with corotating interaction regions) seem to play an important role in such 13.5-day periodicity.