The applicability of model based aircraft radiation dose estimates

The monthly cosmic radiation modulation parameters provided to compute radiation dose on aircraft flights do not account for short-term temporal variations such as Forbush decreases or high-speed solar wind flows. The currently available radiation dose models also do not account for changes in geomagnetic conditions when the geomagnetic cutoff may be significantly lower than the average predicted by use of the international geomagnetic reference field models. We utilize on-board aircraft radiation dosimeter data acquired during the major solar-terrestrial disturbances of October/November 2003 to demonstrate these effects along with the increased dose due to the ground-level event of 29 October 2003 on a mid-latitude flight path.