Portable cosmic muon telescope for environmental applications

A portable, low power consumption cosmic muon tracking system based on Close Cathode MWPC technology is presented, which is designed for operation in highly humid environmental conditions such as underground caves, tunnels, or cellars. The system measures the angular distribution of cosmic muons with resolution of 10mrad, allowing for a tomographic mapping of the soil density above the detector unit. The size of the detector, 0.1m2 of total sensitive surface, was designed to fulfill the requirement of transport through humanly passable natural cave tunnels. First results from the Ariadne Cave System in Pilis Mountains, Hungary are shown, which constrains the necessary data taking time for meaningful tomographic mapping. ► Cosmic muon tracking system for underground applications presented. ► Operation in highly humid environment of natural caves demonstrated. ► Tomographic mapping at 60m depth was performed during 50 days in Pilis Mountains, Hungary.