DO's+Researchable+Cosmic+Ray+Question

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__**Question**__ How does the time of the day affect the TEC flux in a 24 hour period? If the position of the sun in relation to the earth causes an increase or decrease in TEC, then why is this?

__**Hypothesis**__ The parts of the earth which the sun reaches should have a higher TEC than the parts which it does not.

__**Procedure**__ First, we would have to get periodic screen grabs of google earth every three hours during the day so we can see the change in TEC in accordance with the position of the sun. Using one specific location and monitoring its TEC, we should see that from about midnight to 6 or 7 a.m. the TEC will be low. Then during the day until about 8 or 9 p.m. the TEC will be high and then until midnight will decrease again.

The point I'm picking is the Panama Canal because it is very close to the equator and should see alot of change in TEC which will be interesting.

The placemark is small but if you look closely you can see it in the middle of the screen. At 9:00 am the TEC over that point has a level of roughly 12 - 14.
 * Panama Canal in google earth at 9:00 am on May 29, 2008.**

Now the TEC has raised to roughly 19 or 20 in 3 hours.
 * Panama Canal in google earth at noon on May 29, 2008.**

This is one of the highest TEC levels of the day coming in at about 27 - 28.
 * Panama Canal in google earth at 3:00 pm on May 29, 2008.**

** Here you can see the TEC starting to decrease and its about 22.
 * Panama Canal in google earth at 6:00 pm on May 29, 2008.

** Now its back down to about 9 - 10.
 * Panama Canal in google earth at 9:00 pm on May 29, 2008.

** Now the TEC is about 4 or 5.
 * Panama Canal in google Earth at midnight on May 29, 2008.

The TEC is at the lowest point for the day coming in at about 2 - 3.
 * Panama Canal in google earth at 3:00 am on May 29, 2008.[[image:3am.png width="560" height="494" caption="3am.png"]]**