title: Study of the ratio of non-neutron to neutron dose components of cosmic radiation at typical commercial flight altitudes.
abstract: CIEMAT, in close co-operation with Iberia Airlines, carried out an extensive programme of in-flight measurements, covering both hemispheres, during the years 2001 and 2002. Although the instrumentation onboard included different active devices, the results presented here were obtained from a polyethylene/tungsten-moderated rem meter (SWENDI2; Eberline) and an ionisation chamber (RSS-131; Reuter-Stokes) used for measuring the ambient dose equivalent due to the neutron and the non-neutron components of cosmic radiation, respectively. This paper presents a study of each of the dose components mentioned as a function of the vertical cut-off rigidity and the flight altitude. The ratio between the two components is also presented to determine the variations in cosmic radiation composition as a function of the aforementioned parameters. The experimental results have also been compared with those predicted by the code EPCARD3.2 for the non-neutron and the neutron components of the ambient dose equivalent.
authors.affiliation: CIEMAT, Avda. Complutense, 22, E-28040 Madrid, Spain. ana.romero@ciemat.es
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Saez-Vergara
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Domínguez-Mompell
mesh_terms: D000401:Aircraft / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000465:Algorithms; D000531:Altitude; D001822:Body Burden; D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003359:Cosmic Radiation; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D018499:Linear Energy Transfer; D009502:Neutrons; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes