"Dark Lightning" Could Expose Airline Passengers To Radiation

mbstone writes "Lightning researcher Joseph Dwyer of the Florida Institute of Technology claims that thunderstorms unleash sprays of X-rays and even intense bursts of gamma rays which could cause airline passengers to receive in an instant the maximum safe lifetime dose of ionizing radiation — the kind that wreaks the most havoc on the human body. Dwyer hopes his sensor aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, will provide more data."

Comments

No Dosometers on Board

[nukenerd]

It being common knowledge that flying is subject to higher than normal radiation levels, and there is therefore a worry about crews, I had assumed that aircraft carried dosimeters so that crew members' total personal doses were monitored. No? If so, then this would not be a theory - it could be checked from the monitoring.

If they do not carry dosimeters, why not? Ground level radiation workers have to by law. I am a nuclear engineer and do so on visits to plant - yet my total life dose over some years of this is tiny, less than typical aircrew would have I believe.

Re:No Dosometers on Board

[jma34]

There are dosimeters on board. I have completed several radiation safety courses during my work and radiation levels for airline crew are monitored and tracked just like they are for workers in nuclear and other research fields. Frequent fliers are not monitored and tracked. I work at CERN and I know exactly how much ionizing and neutron dose I receive during my work, but I also have to travel between my home at Fermilab and CERN and I have no idea how much dose I receive on my trans-Atlantic flights. The pilot of the plane is monitored and his dose is tracked. That pilot should also have access to his personal dose, but I don't know what the level of transparency is in the airline industry. So if there were a significant likelihood, the data is there.

Speaking from a physics point of view, a huge acceleration is need to produce x-ray and gamma rays. And they aren't hard to detect. It would seem that a balloon experiment flying some CsI or other crystals in some thunderstorms would quickly detect this phenomena even if it is 1/1000 or even 1/10000.

Re:FUD summary as usual

[macraig]

Not so fast, mister cynic. First the article says "one dark lightning occurrence for every thousand visible flashes" and then shortly afterward "thunderstorms produce about a billion or so lightning bolts annually".

So that's one million "dark lightning" incidents every year, and how many global aircraft flights? Avoidance of thunderstorms or not, odds are it's been happening and we didn't know to look for symptoms until now.

Re:FUD summary as usual

[wonkey_monkey]

we didn't know to look for symptoms until now.

Still, if you have to looking for symptoms, it can't be that bad.

Re:FUD summary as usual

[muon-catalyzed]

> just stick a few geiger counters and recorders on planes and fly them near thunderstorms

Rewind the footage to about 5:00 when the airplane is at about the cruising altitude, it is that bad, even without the pesky thunderstorms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2IMEk1dvNw

Re:Hrmmm

[hairyfeet]

You and everybody else is making jokes but did you forget we thought "radiation is your friend" and even looked at using nukes to make harbors in the 50s and in the 40s nearly every boat and a lot of the tanks used asbestos "for the safety of the men" because of its fireproof qualities?

I'll never forget a lecture I saw by Neil Tyson where he said "All great scientists work at the edge of ignorance" and he's right, if its one thing that science has taught us is that we REALLY don't know as much about how everything works as we THINK we do. Now is this happening? I do not know which is why i look forward to his findings, it would explain why we seem to have a lot more cases of cancer, at least from what I've seen. Maybe some people are more sensitive to this than others, like how some people can smoke all their lives and never get cancer while somebody else smokes 5 years and gets it, who knows? All I DO know is if it turns out to be true it wouldn't surprise me, anymore than it surprises me we knew so little about radiation and asbestos back in the day. We still have so much to learn about how everything works, especially hard to study things like lightning.

Re:Hrmmm

[Cormacus]

From the article:
thunderstorms unleash sprays of X-rays and even intense bursts of gamma rays

From http://science.howstuffworks.com/radiation3.htm:
Beta particles can be stopped or reduced by a layer of clothing or a substance like aluminum .... Gamma rays often accompany alpha and beta particles. Unlike alpha and beta particles, they are extremely penetrating. In fact, several inches of lead or even a few feet of concrete are required to stop gamma rays. ... X-rays ... aren't quite as penetrating as gamma rays, and just a few millimeters of lead can stop them

On top of that, the aluminum body of an airplane has *lots* of holes in it (windows, control avionics, etc).