Lookup tables to compute high energy cosmic ray induced atmospheric ionization and changes in atmospheric chemistry

TL;DR

This paper develops lookup tables based on CORSIKA simulations to enable atmospheric chemistry models to assess the impact of high-energy cosmic rays (10 GeV to 1 PeV) on Earth's atmosphere and biosphere.

Contribution

It introduces a novel set of lookup tables for high-energy cosmic ray induced atmospheric ionization, integrating them with the NASA-Goddard atmospheric model for improved simulation capabilities.

Findings

Tables enable modeling of cosmic ray effects above 10 GeV.

The approach allows for studying atmospheric chemistry changes due to cosmic rays.

Discussion of the tables' strengths and limitations.

Abstract

A variety of events such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae may expose the Earth to an increased flux of high-energy cosmic rays, with potentially important effects on the biosphere. Existing atmospheric chemistry software does not have the capability of incorporating the effects of substantial cosmic ray flux above 10 GeV . An atmospheric code, the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center two-dimensional (latitude, altitude) time-dependent atmospheric model (NGSFC), is used to study atmospheric chemistry changes. Using CORSIKA, we have created tables that can be used to compute high energy cosmic ray (10 GeV - 1 PeV) induced atmospheric ionization and also, with the use of the NGSFC code, can be used to simulate the resulting atmospheric chemistry changes. We discuss the tables, their uses, weaknesses, and strengths.