The influence of interplanetary shocks on solar protons measured in the stratosphere.

Since the beginning of the 22nd solar cycle twenty solar proton events were observed by the regular balloon measurements of cosmic rays. Temporal changes of intensities and energy spectra of solar protons with energy 100-500 MeV were obtained. The strong influence of interplanetary shock waves on the proton flux characteristics near the Earth was observed. Possible effects of solar proton transport in the vicinity of shock fronts are discussed to explain the observational data.