Solar cycle variations of MIR radiation environment as observed by the LIULIN dosimeter

Measurements on board the MIR space station by the Bulgarian-Russian dosimeter LIULIN have been used to study the solar cycle variations of the radiation environment. The fixed locations of the instrument in the MIR manned compartment behind 6-15 g/cm(2) of shielding have given homogeneous series of particle fluxes and doses measurements to be collected during the declining phase of 22nd solar cycle between September 1989 and April 1994. During the declining phase of 22nd solar cycle the GCR (Galactic Cosmic Rays) flux observed at L>4 (where L is the McIlwain parameter) has enhanced from 0.6-0.7 cm(-2) s(-1) up to 1.4-1.6 cm-2 s(-1). The long-term observations of the trapped radiation can be summarized as follows: the main maximum of the flux and dose rate is located at the southeast side of the geomagnetic field minimum of South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) at L = 1.3-1.4. Protons depositing few (nGy cm(2))/particle in the detector predominantly populate this region. At practically the same spatial location and for similar conditions the dose rate rises up from 480 to 1470 mu Gy/h dose in silicon in the 1990-1994 time interval, during the declining phase of the solar cycle. On the other hand the flux rises from 35 up to 115 cm(-2) s(-1) for the same period of time. A power law dependence was extracted which predicts that when the total neutral density at the altitude of the station decreases from 8 x 10(-15) to 6 x 10(-16) g/cm(3) the dose increase from about 200 mu Gy/h up to 1200 mu Gy/h. At the same time the flux increase from about 30 cm(-2) s(-1) up to 120 cm(-2) s(-1). The AP8 model predictions give only 5.8% increase of the flux for the same conditions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.