Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Space Physics
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1498910
This article is part of the Research Topic Impacts of the Extreme Gannon Geomagnetic Storm of May 2024 throughout the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere System View all articles

The Impact of the Gannon Storm of May 2024 on the Radiation Fields at Aviation Altitudes and in Low Earth Orbits

Provisionally accepted
Kai Schennetten Kai Schennetten *Daniel Matthiä Daniel Matthiä Matthias M. Meier Matthias M. Meier Thomas Berger Thomas Berger Michael Wirtz Michael Wirtz
  • Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In May 2024 the strongest geomagnetic storm since the Halloween storms of 2003 occurred. Media reported worldwide about the space weather situation and its effects on the infrastructure. Of particular interest were reports claiming severe effects on the radiation exposure at aviation altitudes, although no data supporting this assertion were available at that time. In this work the different aspects that affect the radiation exposure at aviation altitudes are discussed for the event. Furthermore, the corresponding dose rates are evaluated and compared to data from Low Earth Orbit. Model calculations indicate an additional contribution to the radiation field at aviation altitudes due to this extraordinary space weather situation, although the dose rates were still in the lowest category D0 of the space weather D-index, i.e., within the dose rate variation of a solar cycle.

    Keywords: Space weather, Solar Energetic Particle (SEP), ground level enhancement (GLE), Radiation field, low earth orbit (LEO), Radiation Protection, Aviation

    Received: 19 Sep 2024; Accepted: 04 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Schennetten, Matthiä, Meier, Berger and Wirtz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kai Schennetten, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.