The Ooty muon telescope reveals what climate did in 2022 summer

Abstract

Climate change has caused devastating extreme weather in East and South Asia during the summer of 2022. The Ooty muon telescope records short-term variations in muon intensity during major thunderstorms, termed thunderstorm-induced muon events (TIMEs). As part of the GRAPES-3 experiment, the telescope detects approximately 370 billion muons every summer. Its excellent angular resolution validates the TIMEs with small directional variations. In the summer of 2022, the telescope detected 18 TIMEs, compared to eight in the previous summer. A sudden increase in TIMEs is possibly a harbinger of climate change.