Space radiation enhancement linked to geomagnetic disturbances.

Abstract

Space radiation dosimetry measurements have been made on board the Space Shuttle. A newly developed active detector called "Real-time Radiation Monitoring Device (RRMD)" was used (Doke et al., 1995; Hayashi et al., 1995). The RRMD results indicate that low Linear Energy Transfer (LET) particles steadily penetrate around the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) without clear enhancement of dose equivalent and some daily periodic enhancements of dose equivalent due to high LET particles are seen at the lower geomagnetic cutoff regions (Doke et al., 1996). We also have been analyzing the space weather during the experiment, and found that the anomalous high-energy particle enhancement was linked to geomagnetic disturbance due to the high speed solar wind from a coronal hole. Additional analysis and other experiments are necessary for clarification of these phenomena. If a penetration of high-energy particles into the low altitude occurs by common geomagnetic disturbances, the prediction of geomagnetic activity becomes more important in the next Space Station's era.