Abstract

A new model of cosmogenic tritium (³H) production in the atmosphere is presented. The model belongs to the CRAC (Cosmic Ray Atmospheric Cascade) family and is named as CRAC:3H. It is based on a full Monte Carlo simulation of the cosmic ray induced atmospheric cascade using the Geant4 toolkit. The CRAC:3H model is able, for the first time, to compute tritium production at any location and time, for any given energy spectrum of the primary incident cosmic ray particles, explicitly treating, also for the first time, particles heavier than protons. This model provides a useful tool for the use of ³H as a tracer of atmospheric and hydrological circulation. A numerical recipe for practical use of the model is appended.