A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Calibration of the BepiColombo environmental radiation monitor (BERM) and cross-calibration with solar intensity X-ray and particle spectrometer (SIXS) during solar energetic particle events; 
Authors: Gomes, António; Pinto, Marco; Cardoso, Carlota; Vainio, Rami; Esko, Eero; Kilpua, Emilia; Lehtolainen, Arto; Oleynik, Philipp; Sánchez-Cano, Beatriz; Dresing, Nina; Gieseler, Jan; Palmroos, Christian; Marques, Arlindo; Gonçalves, Patrícia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication year: 2026
Journal: Earth, Planets and Space
Article number: 157
Volume: 78
Issue: 1
eISSN: 1880-5981
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-026-02432-9
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-026-02432-9
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/527080168
Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
The BepiColombo Environment Radiation Monitor (BERM) is a housekeeping instrument onboard the BepiColombo mission, capable of measuring electron, proton, and heavy-ion fluxes. Due to its quasi-continuous data acquisition throughout all mission phases, BERM provides valuable contributions to both mission operations and scientific analysis of the space radiation environment. This study presents the calibration methodology applied to the electron and proton channels of BERM, along with its validation and cross-calibration with the solar intensity and X-ray spectrometer (SIXS), also onboard of BepiColombo mission. The bow–tie method was employed to calibrate each channel by determining its effective energy and geometric factor enabling the conversion of count rates into physical fluxes. The calibration validation with SIXS data of BERM proton channels P1 to P5 result in a mean deviation in the flux lower than 6%. BERM calibrated channels proved to be consistent with SIXS measurements, enhancing the relevance of BERM to the analysis of the space radiation environment, and in particular to Solar Energetic Particles (SEP) events.
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Funding information in the publication:
This work was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the research grant no. UI/BD/154,742/2023, under the framework of the project ’Advanced Methods for Solar Energetic Particle Events Characterization in the Inner Solar System’ and ESA: 4,000,137,865/22/ES/JDExpert Suport to BERM & RADEM units. This work was carried out by the joint research program of the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University. This work was performed using the facilities of Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University. B.S.-C. acknowledges support through STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship ST/V004115/1 and STFC grant ST/Y000439/1. N.D. is grateful for support from the Research Council of Finland (SHOCKSEE, grant No. 346,902 and AIPAD, grant No. 368,509). The study reflects only the authors’ view and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
