Flight path dose calculation

 

This service allows the calculation of the dose rate and accumulated dose expected along a flight path. The inputs are:

  • Date - to determine the cosmic ray spectrum and rigidity cut-offs

  • Incident spectrum:
    • GCR (both proton and alpha),
    • GLE05 GLE42, GLE43, GLE44, GLE45,GLE59,and GLE60
      • user can specify an offset time relative to the start of the flight
      • user can select which GLE lightcurve to be used, from the list of neutron monitor stations (Not activated in the current version yet)
  • Kp - Magnetic field disturbance, used to accurately calculate the rigidity cut-off

  • Flight path: in one of the options:
    • Upload a user prepared flight path file. The file shall be in plain text defining the way points of the flight in four columns:
      1. The flight time in minute (start from 0.)
      2. Latitude (in degrees bewteen -90 and 90)
      3. Longitude (in degress, between 0-360, or -180 to 180)
      4. Altitude (in km above sea-level)
    • Use an ideal flight path along the great-circle between two specified location. User need to specify:
      • The origin and destination of the flight
      • The flight speed
      • The cruise height of the flight.
The output includes
  • a summary of the input parameters, the peak dose rate (in microSV/hr) and accumulated dose (in microSV) for the fligh
  • a plot of the dose-rate and accumulated dose as a function of flight time
  • a plot of the flight altitude, rigidity cut-off as a function of flight time. For calculations of the GLE enhancement dose, the lightcurve of the GLE is also plotted
  • an ASCII text table containing the flight-time, latitude, longitude, altitude, rigidity, dose-rate and accumulated dose.

This service is only available on request, as it can take a long time to execute depending on the details of the flight path.