CALCULATION OF RADIATION-FIELDS IN THE ATMOSPHERE AND COMPARISON TO EXPERIMENTAL-DATA

In this paper the spectra of secondary hadrons are determined in the a tmosphere at various depths down to sea level. The calculations are pe rformed using the Monte Carlo code FLUKA together with cosmic-ray envi ronmental models which describe the spectra of primary cosmic-ray part icles. We discuss the details of the calculations and the dependence o f the results on the primary cosmic-ray spectrum, the atmospheric dept h and the geographical location. Special emphasis is put on comparison s of calculated and measured hadron spectra including an experiment wh ich was recently performed at the mountain Zugspitze (47.4 degrees N, 11.0 degrees E, 2963 m), Germany. It is shown that FLUKA may serve as an important tool for the estimation of the radiation environment in t he atmosphere. (C) 1998 by Radiation Research Society.