ASSESSING RADIATION EXPOSURE INSIDE THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE

Abstract

The study of the particle showers created inside the Earth's atmosphere due to interactions of cosmic rays of solar and galactic origin is of great importance for the determination of the radiation impact on technological and biological systems. DYASTIMA is a Geant4-based software application that simulates the evolution of secondary particle cascades inside the atmosphere of Earth. DYASTIMA-R is a new feature especially created for assessing the exposure of flight-personnel and frequent flyers to cosmic radiation by performing calculations of radiobiological quantities, such as dose and equivalent dose rates for several air-flight scenarios. In this work, the validation of DYASTIMA/DYASTIMA-R, according to internationally accepted ICRP and ICRU standards, is discussed. Initial results for radiobiological quantities for several air-flight scenarios are also included. The results for specific scenarios calculated by DYASTIMA/DYASTIMA-R are provided as a federated product through the European Space Agency Space Situational Awareness Space Weather Service Centre Network.