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Observations of Solar Irradiance Variability
Abstract
High-precision measurements of total solar irradiance, made by the active cavity radiometer irradiance monitor on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite, show the irradiance to have been variable throughout the first 153 days of observations. The corrected data resolve orbit-to-orbit variations with uncertainties as small as 0.001 percent. Irradiance fluctuations are typical of a band-limited noise spectrum with high-frequency cutoff near 0.15 day –1 ; their amplitudes about the mean value of 1368.31 watts per square meter approach ± 0.05 percent. Two large decreases in irradiance of up to 0.2 percent lasting about 1 week are highly correlated with the development of sunspot groups. The magnitude and time scale of the irradiance variability suggest that considerable energy storage occurs within the convection zone in solar active regions.
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Cited by
Climate Impact of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
Hansen, J., Johnson, D., Lacis, A., Lebedeff, S., Lee, P., Rind, D., & Russell, G. (1981) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.213.4511.957 · Cited by 1,071
Solar models with helium and heavy-element diffusion
Bahcall, J. N., Pinsonneault, M. H., & Wasserburg, G. J. (1995) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.67.781 · Cited by 873
The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)
Barkstrom, B. R. (1984) · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society · doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1984)065<1170:terbe>2.0.co;2 · Cited by 531
Standard solar models and the uncertainties in predicted capture rates of solar neutrinos
Bahcall, J. N., Huebner, W. F., Lubow, S. H., Parker, P. D., & Ulrich, R. K. (1982) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.54.767 · Cited by 485
Light-avoidance-mediating photoreceptors tile the Drosophila larval body wall
Xiang, Y., Yuan, Q., Vogt, N., Looger, L. L., Jan, L. Y., & Jan, Y. N. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09576 · Cited by 462
Metadata
- Authors
- Willson, R. C., Gulkis, S., Janssen, M., Hudson, H. S., & Chapman, G. A.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1981-02-13
- Volume
- 211
- Issue
- 4483
- Pages
- 700-702
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2018635133
- Cited by
- 407
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 50.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Willson, R. C., Gulkis, S., Janssen, M., Hudson, H. S., & Chapman, G. A. (1981). Observations of Solar Irradiance Variability. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.211.4483.700
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