The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere
TC
Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4769-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4769-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
Research article
 | 
11 Oct 2021
Research article |  | 11 Oct 2021

Assessment of neutrons from secondary cosmic rays at mountain altitudes – Geant4 simulations of environmental parameters including soil moisture and snow cover

Thomas Brall, Vladimir Mares, Rolf Bütikofer, and Werner Rühm

Related authors

A dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensors for soil moisture observation in a highly instrumented pre-Alpine headwater catchment in Germany
Benjamin Fersch, Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Jannis Jakobi, Gabriele Baroni, Theresa Blume, Heye Bogena, Christian Budach, Tobias Gränzig, Michael Förster, Andreas Güntner, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, Mandy Kasner, Markus Köhli, Birgit Kleinschmit, Harald Kunstmann, Amol Patil, Daniel Rasche, Lena Scheiffele, Ulrich Schmidt, Sandra Szulc-Seyfried, Jannis Weimar, Steffen Zacharias, Marek Zreda, Bernd Heber, Ralf Kiese, Vladimir Mares, Hannes Mollenhauer, Ingo Völksch, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2289–2309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, 2020
On the consistency of 2-D video disdrometers in measuring microphysical parameters of solid precipitation
F. Bernauer, K. Hürkamp, W. Rühm, and J. Tschiersch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3251–3261, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3251-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3251-2015, 2015
Short summary

Related subject area

Discipline: Snow | Subject: Numerical Modelling
Snow cover prediction in the Italian central Apennines using weather forecast and land surface numerical models
Edoardo Raparelli, Paolo Tuccella, Valentina Colaiuda, and Frank S. Marzano
The Cryosphere, 17, 519–538, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-519-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-519-2023, 2023
Short summary
A data exploration tool for averaging and accessing large data sets of snow stratigraphy profiles useful for avalanche forecasting
Florian Herla, Pascal Haegeli, and Patrick Mair
The Cryosphere, 16, 3149–3162, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3149-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3149-2022, 2022
Short summary
Land–atmosphere interactions in sub-polar and alpine climates in the CORDEX flagship pilot study Land Use and Climate Across Scales (LUCAS) models – Part 1: Evaluation of the snow-albedo effect
Anne Sophie Daloz, Clemens Schwingshackl, Priscilla Mooney, Susanna Strada, Diana Rechid, Edouard L. Davin, Eleni Katragkou, Nathalie de Noblet-Ducoudré, Michal Belda, Tomas Halenka, Marcus Breil, Rita M. Cardoso, Peter Hoffmann, Daniela C. A. Lima, Ronny Meier, Pedro M. M. Soares, Giannis Sofiadis, Gustav Strandberg, Merja H. Toelle, and Marianne T. Lund
The Cryosphere, 16, 2403–2419, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2403-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2403-2022, 2022
Short summary
Elements of future snowpack modeling – Part 1: A physical instability arising from the nonlinear coupling of transport and phase changes
Konstantin Schürholt, Julia Kowalski, and Henning Löwe
The Cryosphere, 16, 903–923, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-903-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-903-2022, 2022
Short summary
Elements of future snowpack modeling – Part 2: A modular and extendable Eulerian–Lagrangian numerical scheme for coupled transport, phase changes and settling processes
Anna Simson, Henning Löwe, and Julia Kowalski
The Cryosphere, 15, 5423–5445, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5423-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5423-2021, 2021
Short summary
More articles (10)

Cited articles

Agostinelli, S.: Geant4 – a simulation toolkit, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. A, 506, 250–303, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(03)01368-8, 2003. a
Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Desilets, D., Franz, T. E., Zreda, M., Bogena, H. R., and Looms, M. C.: Status and perspectives on the cosmic-ray neutron method for soil moisture estimation and other environmental science applications, Vadose Zone J., 16, 4079, https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2017.04.0086, 2017. a
Brall, T., Dommert, M., Rühm, W., Trinkl, S., Wielunski, M., and Mares, V.: Monte Carlo simulation of the CERN-EU high energy Reference Field (CERF) facility, Radiat. Meas., 133, 106294, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2020.106294, 2020. a
Brall, T., Mares, V., Bütikofer, R., and Rühm, W.: Assessment of secondary neutrons from galactic cosmic rays at mountain altitudes – Geant4 simulations and ground-based measurements of neutron energy spectra, Radiat. Meas., 144, 106592, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2021.106592, 2021. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j
Bramblett, R. L., Ewing, R. I., and Bonner, T. W.: A new type of neutron spectrometer, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res., 9, 1–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/0029-554X(60)90043-4, 1960. a
More articles (39)
Download
Short summary
Neutrons from secondary cosmic rays, measured at 2660 m a.s.l. at Zugspitze, Germany, are highly affected by the environment, in particular by snow, soil moisture, and mountain shielding. To quantify these effects, computer simulations were carried out, including a sensitivity analysis on snow depth and soil moisture. This provides a possibility for snow depth estimation based on the measured number of secondary neutrons. This method was applied at Zugspitze in 2018.
Read more