Photoelectrons as a tool to evaluate spectral and temporal variations of solar EUV and XUV irradiance models over solar rotation and solar cycle time scales

Solar radiation below 50 nm produces a substantial portion of the F region ionization and most of the E region ionization that drives chemical reactions in the thermosphere. Because of a lack of high temporal and spectral resolution Solar EUV and XUV observations, particularly below 27 nm, various solar irradiance models have been developed. We have developed a technique to use observations of escaping photoelectron fluxes from the FAST satellite and two different photoelectron production codes driven by model solar irradiance values to systematically examine differences between observed and calculated escaping photoelectron fluxes. We have compared modeled and observed photoelectron fluxes from the start of TIMED/SEE data availability (2002) to the end of FAST photoelectron observations (2009). Solar irradiance inputs included TIMED/SEE data, which is derived from a model below 27 nm, and the FISM Version 1, the SRPM predictive model based on solar observation, HEUVAC, S2000, and NRL, solar irradiance models. We used the GLOW and FLIP photoelectron production codes. We find that model photoelectron spectra generated using the HEUVAC solar irradiance model have the best overall agreement with observations. Photoelectron spectra generated with the the TIMED/SEE based FISM model best agree with the observations on solar cycle time scales. Below ~27 nm all but the HEUVAC solar irradiance model produces photoelectron fluxes that are systematically below observations. We also noted systematic differences in the photoelectron energy spectra below 25 eV produced by the GLOW and FLIP photoelectron production codes for all solar irradiance inputs.