HR: 11:40h
AN: SH22A-06 [Abstracts]
TI: The Radiation Dose at Commercial Aircraft Altitudes During the January 2005 High-Energy Solar Cosmic
ray Event and the Effects of the Solar Cosmic ray Anisotropy
AU: * Smart, D F
EM: sssrc@msn.com
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory (VSBX) (Emeritus), 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, Bedford, MA 01731
United States
AU: Shea, M A
EM: sssrc@msn.com
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory (VSBX) (Emeritus), 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, Bedford, MA 01731
United States
AU: Friedberg, W
EM: wallace.friedberg@faa.gov
AF: Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City, OK 73125
United States
AU: Copeland, K
EM: Kyle.Copeland@faa.gov
AF: Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City, OK 73125
United States
AU: Sauer, H H
SH22A-06
AF: CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80305
United States
AB:
The radiation dose to aircrews and passengers is a phenomenon of societal interest. There is a requirement to provide alerts
whenever the radiation dose exceeds 20 micro-sieverts per hour at flight altitudes. The possibility that this might occur
during a large high-energy solar cosmic ray event has resulted in much speculation. During the 20 January 2005 ground-level
event the FAA Solar Radiation Alert System would have issued such an alert for aircraft at high latitudes for flight
altitudes above 40,000 feet. Analysis of the GOES high-energy proton data results in a predicted dose rate of 23 micro Sv
per hour at 60,000 feet for the first hour of the event. We also predict that the maximum peak dose rate would have been
higher at the geographical position corresponding to the peak anisotropic flux intensity and would be correspondingly lower
at geographical positions receiving a lower high energy solar cosmic ray flux. The solar high-energy flux anisotropy is
extremely variable among the observed solar cosmic ray ground-level events. The 20 January 2005 event had one of the most
extreme anisotropies yet observed by ground-level cosmic ray neutron monitors. We discuss the effects of this anisotropy
with respect to aircraft radiation dose.
DE: 2104 Cosmic rays
DE: 2479 Solar radiation and cosmic ray effects
DE: 7514 Energetic particles (2114)
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005