Solar activity and cosmic ray variations as a factor of intensity of cyclonic processes at midlatitudes

Abstract: Long-period variations in the cyclonic activity at middle and subpolar latitudes of the North Atlantic are studied on the basis of the data from the MSLP archive of the surface pressure (Climatic Research Unit, UK) for 1874–1995. It has been found that in the cold half year (the period of the most intense formation and development of extra-tropical cyclones) in the studied region, oscillations of the surface pressure with periods close to the main periods of solar activity (∼80 and ∼11 years) are observed. The obtained results make it possible to assume that solar activity and related variations in the galactic cosmic rays are one of the factors influencing the intensity of cyclonic processes at midlatitudes on the time scales of ∼10 to ∼100 years.