Measurement and simulation of the radiation environment in the lower atmosphere for dose assessment.

• Main Author: Pioch, C.
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: North Pole
• Online Access: https://push-zb.helmholtz-muenchen.de/frontdoor.php?source_opus=25063

Flying personnel is occupationally exposed to rather high radiation levels due to secondary cosmic radiation. Therefore, the radiation environment induced in the lower atmosphere by galactic and solar cosmic radiation was characterized by means of particle transport calculations using GEANT4. These calculations were validated with continuous measurements of the energy spectra of secondary neutrons with Bonner sphere spectrometers at the Zugspitze mountain and near the North Pole. The response of these instruments was determined with GEANT4 and for the first time experimentally verified at high neutron energies (244 and 387 MeV). Route doses for aircrews along typical long-haul flights were determined for galactic and solar cosmic radiation using most recent data on the magnetospheric field and primary cosmic radiation.