SORCE - The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment
Abstract
The NASA/EOS Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) will measure the total and the spectral irradiance from the Sun, providing inputs for understanding the Earth's climate. Four instruments provide irradiance measurements at wavelengths from 1 nm to longer than 2000 nm as follows: The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) measures total solar irradiance (TSI) to a relative standard uncertainty (1 σ precision) of 100 parts per million (ppm). The TIM will continue the current 22-year record of solar irradiance measurements using a modern phase-sensitive electronics design. The Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM) provides the first continuous spectral irradiance measurements from 200 to 2000 nm. This prism spectrometer will achieve 300 ppm uncertainty and a spectral resolution ranging from 0.2 to 30 nm. The Solar Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE) monitors the more highly-variable solar ultraviolet irradiance with a ~5% uncertainty over the wavelength range 120 to 300 nm. This grating spectrometer has 0.1 to 0.2 nm spectral resolution, and uses measurements of stable, blue stars for in-flight calibration. This SORCE instrument continues the data record from the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite's SOLSTICE. The XUV Photometer System (XPS) covers 1 to 35 nm using 9 spectral bandpass filters to measure the large solar irradiance variations in the extreme ultraviolet with a ~20% accuracy. A nearly identical instrument launches on the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission in August 2001. SORCE will be launched on a Pegasus XL into a low Earth orbit in July of 2002 with a mission life goal of 5 years. Total and spectral irradiance data will be available via NASA/GSFC's Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) as well as from LASP's web site (http://lasp.colorado.edu/sorce).
- Publication:
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AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2001
- Bibcode:
- 2001AGUSM..SH52A08K
- Keywords:
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- 1650 Solar variability;
- 2162 Solar cycle variations (7536);
- 7537 Solar and stellar variability;
- 7538 Solar irradiance;
- 7594 Instruments and techniques