Does the SAA Affect Radiation Exposure at Flight Altitudes?

Behind the scenes of an unusual flight to the Falkland Islands to measure the exposure to cosmic radiation across the South Atlantic Ocean.
Published in Healthcare & Nursing
Does the SAA Affect Radiation Exposure at Flight Altitudes?
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What were you doing in winter of 2021? Working from home? Going for a daily walk? Still baking banana bread? Not only our daily lives were tremendously challenged by the pandemic but also the logistics of research in Antarctica. For exchanging the crew of their polar research vessel Polarstern virus-free, the Alfred Wegener Institute, German Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, chartered a direct Lufthansa flight from Hamburg to Mount Pleasant on the Falkland Islands. For many years, our group at German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been investigating the exposure to cosmic radiation at aviation altitudes and therefore had already performed many measuring campaigns. Why were we so excited to join this special flight?

Fig. 1: Flight route through the geographical region of the South Atlantic Anomaly (yellow area). The different colors show the dose rates aboard a satellite at 600 km  altitude. 

Above the South Atlantic at space flight altitudes, there is a region with increased radiation compared to similar latitudes, called the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) (Fig.1). For some years, concerns of equally increased radiation doses at flight altitudes have been raised among flight crews and frequent flyers. Therefore, the planned Lufthansa flight was a fantastic and unique opportunity to measure the effects of cosmic radiation at 13 km altitude in the full geographical region of the SAA to get to the bottom of these concerns. Does this sound like an exciting alternative to pandemic life routines? Here is the catch: to join the travel party we had to undergo a 16-day hotel quarantine prior to the flight to make sure no coronavirus got on board. However, we were thrilled to go as it was an exceptional chance to collect invaluable data and previous attempts to fly to this region had been spoiled by the pandemic.

Thus, in March 2021 in the middle of lockdown, we set out for the quarantine in Bremerhaven together with the Lufthansa flight crew and the exchange crew for Polarstern. A king-size bed, a small desk, a gray sofa, the window out to the spooky neighboring industrial harbor area, this was the comfortable home for the upcoming days of strict room quarantine. Food was delivered to our doors, daily virtual talks, fitness challenges, and a lot of work ensured we did not get bored. After eight full days in our rooms and a second negative PCR-test, we were finally allowed to meet the crews in person for the very first time. The following days were full of exchanging experiences and discussing the final details of the mission. It was also time to check our equipment, set it up, and pack for the flight. Our baggage included two TEPC detectors to measure the dose equivalent delivered to a small volume of tissue, two semiconductor instruments to quantify the dose of charged particles, and a 40kg heavy neutron probe. With this set of instruments, we can measure the radiation field at flight altitudes and then compare it to model calculations. We hypothesized that if there were no deviation of the measured data from expectations for similar geographic regions from previous measuring flights there would be no effect of the South Atlantic Anomaly to the radiation field at flight altitudes.

After 16 days in the hotel and a final negative PCR-test, it got serious. We were taken to Hamburg Airport where our Lufthansa Airbus A350-900 to Mount Pleasant was waiting for us. Ensuring as few contacts as possible to people outside our Covid-free bubble, even a closed terminal was opened only for our flight. Once on board, we placed our instruments near the center of gravity of the aircraft in row 15, lashed them for the flight, and started the measurements. After the extensive preparations, we were finally ready for departure, 15h 46min flight time ahead of us. Since the terrestrial and space weather were calm during our flight, we were looking forward to acquiring essential results. After crossing the equator and entering the geographical region of the SAA, we closely monitored the instruments throughout the night and impatiently waited for first results: we did not see any increased level of radiation. The measured values were within expectations.

Fig.2: The DLR scientists in front of the Lufthansa A350-900 before departure and focused during measurements across the South Atlantic Ocean. 

Subsequent investigations showed good agreement of the acquired data with  model calculations. The comprehensive analysis revealed that for the given quiet space weather conditions there was no evidence for an additional significant contribution from the SAA to the radiation field at aviation altitudes in the acquired measuring data of any of the instruments used. Therefore, any concerns of increased radiation at flight altitudes in the geographical region of the SAA are without any scientific reason.  

Upon landing in Mt Pleasant, we were taken to our hotel in Stanley where we spent another three days in room-quarantine before finally returning to Munich. It was an exceptional, personally challenging, and unique science mission under extraordinary circumstances. We are grateful for the amazing support by our Lufthansa flight crew and the perfect coordination by Dr Eberhard Kohlberg from the Alfred-Wegener-Institute.

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