Proton, Electron, and Photon Flux Measurement and Simulation During Stratospheric Balloon Flights

This article compares three models of the atmospheric radiative environment: 1) model of atmospheric ionizing radiative effects (MAIREs); 2) Excel-based Program for calculating Atmospheric Cosmic-ray Spectrum (EXPACS); and 3) radiation atmospheric model for single-event effect simulation (RAMSEES) to experimental fluxes measured at different altitudes. The PIX Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) instrument recorded the fluxes during five stratospheric flights. There is no standard way to model the atmospheric radiative environment today. Each model uses its own Monte Carlo toolkit, modeling the atmosphere and primary particles. The RAMSEES was created by Geant4 simulation of the Extensive Air Shower (EAS) phenomenon generated by highly energetic Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) in 100 km of atmosphere. By using PIX fluxes, this article aims to benchmark the models with experimental data at multiple altitudes. Three integral fluxes were used in this article at a comparison point: 1) photons >0.823 MeV; 2) electrons >10.27 MeV; and 3) protons >80 MeV. MAIRE shows good agreement with all the experimental fluxes from 5 to 40 km. MAIRE predictions show remarkable agreement with the PIX photon fluxes. EXPACS predictions are in a magnitude order of PIX measurements but tend to underestimate the fluxes. Finally, RAMSEES predictions agree with PIX fluxes for protons, electrons, and photons at altitudes of 5–32.5 km. Moreover, RAMSEES shows significant agreement with PIX proton fluxes.