Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector

Rafkin, Scot; Zeitlin, C.; Ehresmann, Bent; Hassler, D. M.; Guo, Jingnan; Köhler, Jan; Wimmer‐Schweingruber, R. F.; Gómez‐Elvira, Javier; Harri, A. M.; Kahanpää, Henrik; Brinza, D. E.; Weigle, Gerald; Böttcher, S.; Böhm, E.; Burmeister, Soenke; Martı́n, César; Reitz, Guenther; Cucinotta, Francis A.; Kim, Myung‐Hee Y.; Grinspoon, David; Bullock, M. A.; Posner, A.

doi:10.1002/2013je004525

Cited by 48 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Alternatively the contribution by such secondaries to the dose data is relatively small while the contribution by primary and heavy-mass GCRs to dose rate is larger than to the count rate. This is supported by the clear anti-correlation between RAD measured dose rate and the surface pressure, suggesting a shielding effect of the atmospheric depth against the GCR-induced dose (Rafkin et al 2014). …”

Section: Gcr Measurement By Msl/radmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…MSL/RAD is an energetic particle detector and it has been carrying out radiation measurements of both particle types and fluxes together with dose and dose equivalent rates during its 11-month cruise phase (Zeitlin et al 2013;Posner et al 2013;Guo et al 2015a;Ehresmann et al 2016) and later on the surface of Mars since the landing of MSL in August 2012 Ehresmann et al 2014;Rafkin et al 2014;Köhler et al 2014;Wimmer-Schweingruber et al 2015;Guo et al 2015b). On the surface of Mars, RAD measures a mix of primary GCRs or SEPs and secondary particles generated in the atmosphere including both charged ) and neutral (Köhler et al 2014;Guo et al 2017b) particles.…”

Section: Gcr Measurement By Msl/radmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At Gale Crater, the thermal tide produces a daily variation in column mass of about ±5% relative to the median, as measured by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) (Haberle et al 2014). This diurnal change of the atmospheric depth causes daily oscillations of the dose rate measured by RAD of up to ∼ 2.5%: when the pressure (column mass) increases during the night, the total dose rate decreases; when the pressure decreases during the mid-day, the total dose rate increases (Rafkin et al 2014). We also note that the Martian global CO 2 condensation cycle may cause up to 20% of the seasonal variation of the atmospheric depth which would result in bigger variations in the RAD measured dose rate (Guo et al 2015b).…”

Section: Filtering Out Diurnal Variations In Msl/radmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measurements of Forbush decreases at Mars: both by MSL on ground and by MAVEN in orbit

Guo

Lillis

Wimmer‐Schweingruber

et al. 2018

A&A

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The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), on board Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) Curiosity rover, has been measuring ground level particle fluxes along with the radiation dose rate at the surface of Mars since August 2012. Similar to neutron monitors at Earth, RAD sees many Forbush decreases (FDs) in the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) induced surface fluxes and dose rates. These FDs are associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and/or stream/corotating interaction regions (SIRs/CIRs). Orbiting above the Martian atmosphere, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has also been monitoring space weather conditions at Mars since September 2014. The penetrating particle flux channels in the Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) instrument onboard MAVEN can also be employed to detect FDs. For the first time, we study the statistics and properties of a list of FDs observed in-situ at Mars, seen both on the surface by MSL/RAD and in orbit detected by the MAVEN/SEP instrument. Such a list of FDs can be used for studying interplanetary CME (ICME) propagation and SIR evolution through the inner heliosphere. The magnitudes of different FDs can be well-fitted by a power-law distribution. The systematic difference between the magnitudes of the FDs within and outside the Martian atmosphere may be mostly attributed to the energy-dependent modulation of the GCR particles by both the pass-by ICMEs/SIRs and the Martian atmosphere.

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Section: Gcr Measurement By Msl/radmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Gcr Measurement By Msl/radmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Filtering Out Diurnal Variations In Msl/radmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measurements of Forbush decreases at Mars: both by MSL on ground and by MAVEN in orbit

Guo

Lillis

Wimmer‐Schweingruber

et al. 2018

A&A

Self Cite

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“…The Mars Science Laboratory (Grotzinger et al 2012) -Radiation Assessment Detector (MSL-RAD; Hassler et al 2012) detector on board the Curiosity rover has been the first instrument to measure particle spectra and dose rates both during the cruise to Mars (Zeitlin et al 2013;Guo et al 2015;Köhler et al 2015) and on the Martian surface Hassler et al 2014;Köhler et al 2014;Rafkin et al 2014). Besides the continuous exposure to galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), the MSL-RAD instrument has measured several moderate solar energetic particle events during the cruise phase, from December 2011 to July 2012, and a few small solar particle events on the Martian surface since August 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Martian surface radiation environment – a comparison of models and MSL/RAD measurements

Matthiä

Ehresmann

Lohf

et al. 2016

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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Context: The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) has been measuring the radiation environment on the surface of Mars since August 6th 2012. MSL-RAD is the first instrument to provide detailed information about charged and neutral particle spectra and dose rates on the Martian surface, and one of the primary objectives of the RAD investigation is to help improve and validate current radiation transport models. Aims: Applying different numerical transport models with boundary conditions derived from the MSL-RAD environment the goal of this work was to both provide predictions for the particle spectra and the radiation exposure on the Martian surface complementing the RAD sensitive range and, at the same time, validate the results with the experimental data, where applicable. Such validated models can be used to predict dose rates for future manned missions as well as for performing shield optimization studies. Methods: Several particle transport models (GEANT4, PHITS, HZETRN/OLTARIS) were used to predict the particle flux and the corresponding radiation environment caused by galactic cosmic radiation on Mars. From the calculated particle spectra the dose rates on the surface are estimated. Results: Calculations of particle spectra and dose rates induced by galactic cosmic radiation on the Martian surface are presented. Although good agreement is found in many cases for the different transport codes, GEANT4, PHITS, and HZETRN/OLTARIS, some models still show large, sometimes order of magnitude discrepancies in certain particle spectra. We have found that RAD data is helping to make better choices of input parameters and physical models. Elements of these validated models can be applied to more detailed studies on how the radiation environment is influenced by solar modulation, Martian atmosphere and soil, and changes due to the Martian seasonal pressure cycle. By extending the range of the calculated particle spectra with respect to the experimental data additional information about the radiation environment is gained, and the contribution of different particle species to the dose is estimated.

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“…The model results agreed less well with the measurements made between sols 200 and 300 and these measurements are currently under review. An unpredicted diurnal variation detected in the surface dose rate at Mars was demonstrated in [40] to be very likely due to a variation in atmospheric column mass driven by the thermal tide (as measured by the pressure sensor on the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station/REMS).…”

Section: Preliminary Radiation Measurements At the Martian Surfacementioning

confidence: 99%

Recommendations to mitigate against human health risks incurred due to energetic particle irradiation beyond low earth orbit/BLEO

et al. 2015

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Diurnal variations of energetic particle radiation at the surface of Mars as observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector

Cited by 48 publications

References 48 publications

Measurements of Forbush decreases at Mars: both by MSL on ground and by MAVEN in orbit

Measurements of Forbush decreases at Mars: both by MSL on ground and by MAVEN in orbit

The Martian surface radiation environment – a comparison of models and MSL/RAD measurements

Recommendations to mitigate against human health risks incurred due to energetic particle irradiation beyond low earth orbit/BLEO

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