Solar Cycle Variation and Application to the Space Radiation Environment

The interplanetary plasma and fields are affected by the degree of disturbance that is related to the number and types of sunspots in the solar surface. Sunspot observations were improved with the introduction of the telescope in the seventeenth century, allowing observations which cover many centuries. A single quantity (sunspot number) was defined by Wolf in 1848 that is now known to be well correlated with many space observable quantities and is used herein to represent variations caused in the space radiation environment. The resultant environmental models are intended for future aircraft and space-travel-related exposure estimates.