Cosmic Ray-induced Radiation Exposure among Summer and Overwintering Expeditioners in the High-altitude Antarctic Environment

This paper investigates cosmic ray exposure among Antarctic expeditioners through detailed case analyses of individuals undertaking diverse polar missions, encompassing both summer campaigns and extended winter-overs. The first case profiles a glaciologist with a longitudinal dataset spanning over three decades (1988–2025) and 31 high-altitude missions at key stations such as Vostok and Concordia. The second case examines an astronomer, referred to as Stella, whose exposure history includes multiple summer deployments and two overwintering periods between 2001 and 2025. The third case presents a comprehensive evaluation of overwintering personnel at Concordia, incorporating mission frequency, duration, and cumulative dose assessments over several years, with some subjects completing up to four winter stays within a seven-year timeframe. Exposure assessments, leveraging sophisticated modeling tools alongside empirical measurements, reveal annual effective doses generally below one mSv for summer expeditions. Overwintering expeditioners exhibit higher cumulative doses, occasionally approaching or exceeding the lower value of the ICRP’s recommended reference level range for existing exposure situations (1–20 mSv per year) when averaged over five years. These results underscore the significance of mission duration, solar activity, and repeated exposure, and support the value of continued dosimetric monitoring. They also suggest that tailored radiological considerations may be beneficial for long-term expeditioners in polar environments.