Just to put the radiation bit to rest for good and all.
My dad's best friend (MRC) was the UK expert on radiation and industrial accidents.
He was always called out when it anything hit the fan.
Cosmic radiation has been steadily increasing over a number of years (mostly gamma), as the sun's activity has been steadily falling. (so much for global warming eh?)
When there's a CME (coronal mass ejection) the cosmic ray flux drops sharply in a
FORBUSCH decrease.
This is a quote from Space weather, which is most informative, especially on why we get Aurorae (as is highly likely for christmas).
This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.
What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of
Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can
seed clouds,
trigger lightning, and
penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies (
#1,
#2,
#3,
#4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 12% since 2015:
Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be
the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.
The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV.
These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.
The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the
Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is
what we are measuring today.