Anisotropy in cosmic-ray intensity associated with Forbush decreases

A study of the Forbush decrease of 23 September 1966 shows that the predecrease anisotropy developed from a direction 85° to the west of the sun–earth line. The rate of development of the anisotropy suggests that the "turbulent" plasma producing the Forbush decrease occupied a volume of diameter ≈0.2–0.3 AU. If the plasma clouds away from the earth produced the anisotropy at the earth, then it is reasonable to attribute a part of the highly variable daily variation in cosmic-ray intensity to such distant scattering centers.