Radiation Dose Measurement and Model Comparison at the Flight Level

High-energy charged particles are comprised of galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles which are mainly originated from the supernova explosion, active galactic nuclei, and the Sun. These primary charged particles which have sufficient energy to penetrate the Earth's magnetic field collide with the Earth's upper atmosphere, that is $N_2$ and $O_2$, and create secondary particles and ionizing radiation. The ionizing radiation can be measured at commercial flight altitude. So it is recommended to manage radiation dose of aircrew as workers under radiation environment to protect their health and safety. However, it is hard to deploy radiation measurement instrument to commercial aircrafts and monitor radiation dose continuously. So the numerical model calculation is performed to assess radiation exposure at flight altitude. In this paper, we present comparison result between measurement data recorded on several flights and estimation data calculated using model and examine the characteristics of the radiation environment in the atmosphere.

비행고도 상에서의 우주방사선 관측 및 모델 비교