Abstract
We present a new open-source tool for magnetospheric computations, that
is modelling of cosmic ray propagation in the geomagnetosphere, named
the “Oulu - Open-source geomagneToSphere prOpagation tool” (OTSO). A
tool of this nature is required in order to interpret experiments and
study phenomena within the cosmic ray research field. Within this work
OTSO is applied to the investigation several ground level enhancement
events. Here, we demonstrated several applications of OTSO, namely
computation of asymptotic directions of selected cosmic ray stations,
effective rigidity cut-off across the globe at various conditions within
the design, general properties, including the magnetospheric models
employed. A comparison and validation of OTSO with older widely used
tools such as MAGNETOCOSMICS was performed and good agreement was
achieved. An application of OTSO for providing the necessary background
for analysis of two notable ground level enhancements is demonstrated
and the their spectral and angular characteristics are presented.