TCTE/TIM Status

(updated Aug. 2019)

Completed Science Mission (1 July 2019): TCTE completed its science mission and was permanently turned off on July 1, 2019.

Data Gap Update (12 July 2018): The Kirkland Air Force mission operations center has had difficulties providing raw TCTE/TIM telemetry to LASP for data processing since 13 March 2018, with one of those data-access outages lasting as long as 2.5 months. Intermittent access has allowed LASP to retroactively fill in most of the data from 13 March to early July, but some data gaps remain. On 12 July, the Air Force reported that they once again cannot access the TCTE/TIM telemetry data that have been received on the ground, and they still do not understand why.

Data Production Restarted (4 Feb. 2018): Due to the temporary failure of a spacecraft GPS, there was a gap in the currently-released TCTE data from 18 Jan. 2018 through 3 Feb. 2018. This gap has been filled using two-line elements (TLEs) to give spacecraft position and velocity instead of the GPS. A subsequent data-processing version (V.3) will apply this means of calculating Sun-instrument distance and Doppler corrections for the entire mission duration. Prior to V.3, we’re pleased that the spacecraft’s GPS resumed providing needed positional data and that we can thus provide TCTE’s Level 3 TSI data via our existing V.2 code.

Daily Observations Resumed (13 Jan. 2015): Starting in 2015 the TCTE resumed daily observations, making these latest data the most useful for solar and climate research while continuing the TCTE’s original intent as a calibration transfer experiment. (See Summary of TCTE Observations.)

TCTE TSI Data Files

Full mission downloadable data files contain data from 13 Dec. 2013 to 15 May 2019. The V.4 data provided here are the final anticipated TSI results from the TCTE mission.

Instrument	Time Cadence	Spectral Range & Resolution	Level	Version	Data Info	Full Mission Download	Interactive Access	File Readers(Listed by Language)
TIM	Daily	full & N/A	3	4	?	100 KB		IDL
TIM	6-Hourly	full & N/A	3	4	?	500 KB		IDL

If you use the IDL programming environment, the IDL routine read_lasp_ascii_file.pro may be used to read the above text files into IDL.

TCTE TSI Plots

Plots of the spaceborne TSI record and other TSI science nuggets are updated monthly on Greg Kopp’s TSI webpage.

Most Recent 3 Month Plot

Full TCTE Mission Plot

TCTE Data Products

Data products are available for public access from three different locations:

Location		URL	Content
TCTE Website	Primary	This web page (options above)	Full product documentation and direct downloads
LISIRD Website	Alternate	https://lasp.colorado.edu/lisird/	Solar irradiance data from TCTE and other missions via interactive tools and common interfaces
NASA GES DISC	Archive	https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets?keywords=TCTE%2F	Archived Level 3 science products

 

Data Product Description

The TIM instrument measures the total solar irradiance (TSI), monitoring changes in incident sunlight at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere using an ambient temperature active cavity radiometer to a currently-estimated (for V.3 data) absolute accuracy of~450 parts per million (ppm, 1 ppm=0.0001%) (1-sigma) and a precision and long-term relative accuracy of 10 ppm per year. The standard Level 3 TSI data products produced by the TCTE program consist of daily and 6-hourly average irradiances reported at a mean solar distance of 1 astronomical unit (AU) and zero relative line-of-sight velocity with respect to the Sun.

Two TSI data files are produced daily. One contains the daily means and the other contains four 6-hourly means per day. Due to the small size of the daily data and to maximize ease of use to end-users, each delivered TSI product contains science results for the entire mission. Lower-level data products (e.g. Level 2) have limited scientific value due to frequent gaps caused by the Earth occulting the Sun in the TCTE’s low-Earth orbit, and are therefore not delivered to the GES DISC. Short duration time periods of these data can be made available upon request.

Data Quality Description

On-orbit instrument characterization is an on-going effort, as the TIM team regularly tracks instrument degradation and calibrates the instrument servo system on-orbit, periodically updating the data processing system with new calibration values. Many such needed corrections are anticipated at this early phase in the TCTE/TIM mission, and are being acquired via on-orbit characterizations to be implemented in upcoming data versions.

Measurement Objectives

The primary objective of the TCTE Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) instrument is to make precise and accurate measurements of total solar irradiance (TSI), adding to previous TSI measurements in order to connect the long-term climate record between the aging SORCE and the following TSIS-1 missions. It has achieved those goals.

Data Production Overview

The TIM measures the absolute intensity of solar radiation integrated over the entire solar irradiance spectrum. To construct this product, high time cadence measurements (approximately every 50 seconds during sunlit portions of the STP-Sat3 spacecraft orbit) from the instrument are combined to produce representative daily and 6-hourly values of the TSI. Four TIM radiometer channels track on-orbit degradation in the primary channel and additionally provide a limited degree of redundancy. Shuttered operation of the instrument corrects for thermal background, and state-of-the-art phase sensitive detection algorithms applied to the data at the shutter fundamental reduce noise and sensitivity to drifts. The TIM shutter period is 100 seconds; four such cycles are weighted to give a single irradiance measurement at a cadence of 50 seconds. These so-called “Level 2” data are averaged over an entire day as well as over each 6-hour interval to formulate the two primary TCTE TSI data products that are released to the GES DISC. The TSI value and the time stamp reported are means of the TSI measurements acquired during the interval.

Research and Applications

Measurements of TSI are known to be linked to Earth climate and temperature. Proxies of the TSI based on sunspot observations, tree ring records, ice cores, and cosmogenic isotopes have given estimates of the solar influence on the Earth that extend back thousands of years, and correlate with major climatic events on the Earth. These estimates extrapolate many recent detailed observations to long-term observations of fewer (or even one) measurement. For example, accurate TSI measurements from the last 36 years are correlated with solar measurements of sunspots and faculae; these correlations can then be used to extrapolate the TSI to time periods prior to accurate space-borne TSI measurements, since solar records extend back approximately 100 years for faculae and over 400 years for sunspots. Over this extended time range, the extrapolated TSI record can be compared with longer term records, such as tree rings or ice cores, and correlation with these allows extension of the estimated TSI to more distant historical times, albeit with decreasing certainty. This extrapolation is important for understanding the relationship between TSI and the Earth’s climate; yet the extrapolation begins with the comparison of solar surface features to accurate TSI measurements, a space-based record which has been uninterrupted since starting in 1978. Good accuracy and stability in this recent record are thus of high importance and drive the measurement objectives of the TIM.

TSI Measurement History

Attempts to measure the TSI began in earnest in the 1830’s, with independent measurements by Claude Pouillet and John Herschel, yet were nearly a factor of two low because of atmospheric absorption. Even balloon-borne measurements in the 1900’s lacked the instrumental accuracy to detect the ~0.1% changes in the TSI. It was not until long-duration measurements from space were available that changes in TSI were accurately measured and the misconception of a “solar constant” changed. TSI monitoring using electrical substitution radiometers (ESRs) from the vantage point of space began with the launch of the Nimbus 7 satellite in November 1978. This was soon followed by an Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM) instrument on the Solar Maximum Mission and by the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). More recently, second and third ACRIM instruments have been launched, in addition to the launch of the VIRGO on the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO). The SORCE/TIM was launched in early 2003 with a higher accuracy than all preceding instruments, and established a lower value of the TSI (Kopp & Lean, 2011). Other on-orbit TSI instrument values have now been lowered to match those of the SORCE/TIM. The various data sets are in basic agreement and show conclusively that variations of TSI track the passage of sunspots across the solar disk with an amplitude of about 0.2%, and that long-term solar cycle variations are only on the order of 0.1%. The TCTE TSI data set continues these important observations.

Of the mentioned TSI instruments, the VIRGO and SORCE are the only ones from prior to the TCTE launch that continue to make observations.

Instrument Description

For a description of the TIM instrument go to the SORCE TIM overview page.

Scientific Contact

Dr. Greg Kopp, LASP, CU
(303) 735-0934
Email: (use firstname.lastname@lasp.colorado.edu)

References

• T. Dudok de Wit, G. Kopp, C. Fröhlich, and M. Schöll, “Methodology to create a new Total Solar Irradiance record: Making a composite out of multiple data records,” Geophysical Research Letters, 2017, doi:10.1002/2016GL071866.
• Kopp, G., “Earth’s Incoming Energy: The Total Solar Irradiance,” in Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Elsevier, 2016, ISBN 9780124095489, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.10366-5.
• Kopp, G., “Solar Variability Magnitudes and Timescales,” Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate, 6, A30, 11 pp., 2016, doi: 10.1051/swsc/2016025.
• Kopp, G., Krivova, N., Lean, J., and Wu, C.J., “The Impact of the Revised Sunspot Record on Solar Irradiance Reconstructions,” Solar Physics, 15 pp., 2016, doi: 10.1007/s11207-016-0853-x.
• Kopp, G., “An Assessment of the Solar Irradiance Record for Climate Studies,” Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate, 4, A14, 2014, DOI: 10.1051/swsc/2014012.
• Kopp, G. and Lean, J.L., A New, Lower Value of Total Solar Irradiance: Evidence and Climate Significance, Geophys. Res. Letters Frontier article, Vol. 38, L01706, doi:10.1029/2010GL045777, 2011.
• Kopp, G., Heuerman, K., Harber, D., and Drake, V., The TSI Radiometer Facility – Absolute Calibrations for Total Solar Irradiance Instruments, SPIE Proc. 6677-09, 26-28 Aug. 2007.
• Kopp, Greg, George Lawrence, and Gary Rottman. The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM): Science Results. Submitted to Solar Physics 2005.
• Kopp, Greg, and George Lawrence. The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM): Instrument Design. Submitted to Solar Physics 2005.
• Kopp, Greg, Karl Heurerman, George Lawrence. The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM): Instrument Calibration. Submitted to Solar Physics 2005.
• Kopp, G., G. Lawrence, and G. Rottman. Total Irradiance Monitor Design and On-Orbit Functionality, SPIE Proc. 5171-4, 2003.
• Lawrence, G.M., G. Kopp, G. Rottman, J. Harder, T. Woods, and H. Loui. Calibration of the Total Irradiance Monitor. Metrologia 40, 2003, S78-S80.
• Lawrence, G. M., G. Rottman, G. Kopp, J. Harder, W. McClintock,and T. Woods. The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) for the EOS SORCE Mission. SPIE Proceedings, 4135, 215-224, 2000.
• Lawrence, G. M., G. Rottman, J. Harder, and T. Woods. Solar Total Irradiance Monitor: TIM. Metrologia, 37, 407-410, 2000.
• Woods, Tom, Gary Rottman, Jerry Harder, George Lawrence, Bill McClintock,Greg Kopp, and Chris Pankratz. Overview of the EOS SORCE Mission. SPIE Proceedings, 4135, 192-203, 2000.
• Willson, R.C. and R.S. Helizon. SPIE Proceedings (Earth Observing Systems IV Conference, Denver, CO), 3750, 233-242, 1999.
• Fröhlich C., B. N. Anderson, T. Appourchaux, G. Berthomieu, D. A. Crommelynck, V. Domingo, A. Fichot, M. F. Finsterle, M. F. Gómez, D. Gough, A. Jiménez, T. Leifsen, M. Lombaerts, J. M. Pap, J. Provost, T. Roca Cortés, J. Romero, H. Roth, T. Sekii, U. TellJohann, T. Toutain, and C. Wehrli. The First Results from SOHO (Edited by B. Fleck and Z. Svestka), Dordrecht/Boston/London, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 267-86, 1997; see also Solar Phys., 170, 175, 1997.
• Willson, R. C. Total Solar Irradiance Trend in Solar Cycles 21 and 22. Science, 277, 1963-1965, 1997.
• Fröhlich, Claus. First Results from the VIRGO Experiment. Transactions AGU, Spring Meeting, 1996.
• Lee, R. B., M. A. Gibson, R. S. Wilson, and S. Thomas. Long-term total solar irradiance variability during sunspot cycle 22. J. Geophys. Res., 100, 1667-1675, 1995.
• Fröhlich, Claus. The Sun as a Variable Star. Eds.: J. Pap, C. Fröhlich, H. Hudson, and S. Solanki, Cambridge University Press, New York, 28-36, 1994.
• Willson, R. C. Irradiance observations of SMM, Spacelab-1, UARS, and ATLAS Experiments. The Sun as a Variable Star. Eds.: J. Pap, C. Fröhlich, H. Hudson, and S. Solanki, Cambridge University Press, New York, 54-62, 1994.
• Kyle, H.L., D.V. Hoyt, J.R. Hickey, R.H. Maschoff, and G.J. Vallette. Nimbus-7 Earth Radiation Budget Calibration History. Part 1: The Solar Channels. NASA Reference Publication 1316, 1993.