A New Open-Source Geomagnetosphere Propagation Tool (OTSO) and its Applications

We present a new open-source tool for magnetospheric computations, that is modelling of cosmic ray propagation in the geomagnetosphere, named "Oulu - Open-source geomagneToSphere prOpagation tool" (OTSO). A tool of this nature is required to interpret experiments and study phenomena within the cosmic ray research field. Here, we demonstrate several applications of OTSO, namely the computation of asymptotic directions of selected cosmic ray stations, effective rigidity cut-off across the globe at various conditions within the design, and general properties, including the magnetospheric models employed. OTSO was applied to the investigation of several ground-level enhancement events after which comparison and validation of OTSO with older widely used tools such as MAGNETOCOSMICS was performed, and good agreement was achieved. The necessary background for the analysis of two notable ground-level enhancements was produced using OTSO and their spectral and angular characteristics show good agreement with prior studies and spacecraft data. This validation of OTSO's current abilities reveals its usefulness to the cosmic ray research field and its open-source nature further allows for the tool to be developed beyond its current capabilities by users to meet the needs of the research community.