Cosmic ray decreases and magnetic clouds

Energetic particle data, obtained from IMP 8, in conjunction with solar wind field and plasma data at the times of reported magnetic clouds was studied. It is shown that magnetic clouds can cause a depression of the cosmic ray flux but high fields are required. A depression of 3 percent in a neutron monitor requires a field of about 25 nT. Such high fields are found only in a subset of coronal ejecta. The principal cause for Forbush decreases associated with energetic shocks is probably turbulence in the post-shock region although some shocks will be followed by an ejecta with a high field. Each event is different. The lower energy particles can help in identifying the dominant processes in individual events.