NAIRAS v2 operating at SET as NASA backup

NAIRAS v2 operating at SET as NASA backup

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. The NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation for Aviation Safety (NAIRAS) V2 model is a state-of-the-art system.

Led by PI Chris Mertens of NASA LaRC, it produces data-driven, physics-based climatology of the global radiation conditions. NAIRAS provides dosimetric quantities from the surface of the Earth, through the atmosphere, into Low Earth Orbit. It includes the response of the geomagnetic field to interplanetary dynamical processes on both GCRs and SEPs, which influence atmospheric dose. Finally, it uses coupled, physics-based models to transport cosmic radiation through three distinct domains, including the heliosphere, the Earth’s magnetosphere, and the neutral atmosphere, including all electromagnetic cascade showers through air.

SET provides real-time data feeds to drive the physics-based models. NAIRAS V2 is able to represent radiation climatology on short time scales of hours. The ARMAS app retrieves from the SET server and displays the effective dose rates at 5, 11, 15, and 90 km altitudes.

NAIRAS operates at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9 as a fully integrated operational hardware and software system released to SET’s operations facilities.

Mertens, C.J., et al. (2013), NAIRAS aircraft radiation model development, dose climatology, and initial validation, Space Weather, 11, 603–635, doi:10.1002/swe.20100.