Scientific Results of the

LASP/CU Rocket Experiment

• Overview of Results
• Data Sets (via ftp)
• Solar EUV Irradiance Models (via ftp)
• Programs (via ftp)
• Publication List

Overview of Results

Solar EUV Irradiance (all flights)

• Reference spectra with 6-10% absolute accuracy
• Established systematic errors in the AE-E reference solar spectra
• Established long-term variability as a function of wavelength
• Identified problem with standard emission measure method for the solar atmosphere
• Provided underflight calibration for San Marco, Voyager, EUVE (moon albedo), SOHO, and TIMED instruments

FUV Airglow (1992-2004)

• Reference altitude profiles of atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen airglow emissions in the FUV wavelength region
• Identified twice less atomic oxygen from solar radiation absorption profiles and from airglow modeling than the predicted amount from the MSIS model

Airglow Modeling

• Developed airglow model that accurately predicts the measured airglow profiles
• Established that airglow brightness is linear with solar XUV irradiance
• Verified that the laboratory cross sections are valid for atmospheric modeling of the photoelectron flux and electron impact excitation
• Established that a 1-nm spectral resolution for solar EUV spectra is optimal for atmospheric modeling EXCEPT at the CIII 97.7 nm line where higher resolution is required
• Established higher production rate of nitric oxide by solar XUV radiation when using higher resolution bins and the full spectral range for the solar XUV irradiance

Solar Irradiance Modeling

• Established that long-term and 27-day solar irradiance variability rates do not have to be the same due to different sources for the variability
• Established that three components, the quiet Sun, plages, and active network, are adequate to model accurately the solar UV variability
• Created plage and active network indices from NSO Ca II K images for use in the solar UV irradiance models
• Created new flare model at 1-min cadence using TIMED SEE and GOES data

The following data (text) files can be loaded by your Web browser by clicking on the links. You can also obtain these files as an "anonymous" FTP user on the "laspftp.colorado.edu" computer. These files are in the "pub/rocket/" directory.

Available Data Sets

Solar EUV Irradiance Spectrum Picture

Solar EUV Reference Spectra

The following data (text) files are solar EUV irradiance spectra in 1 nm intervals on 0.5 nm centers and at 1 AU.

• solar_1nm_1992.dat is data taken on Oct. 27, 1992
• solar_1nm_1993.dat is data taken on Oct. 4, 1993
• solar_1nm_1994.dat is data taken on Nov. 3, 1994

The following data (text) files are solar EUV emission features that have been extracted from the solar irradiance spectra at instrument resolution.

• solar_lines_1992.dat is data taken on Oct. 27, 1992
• solar_lines_1993.dat is data taken on Oct. 4, 1993
• solar_lines_1994.dat is data taken on Nov. 3, 1994

Thermospheric Airglow Profiles

The following data (text) files are altitude profiles of N2 and O airglow brightness measured from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico near 19 UT.

• airglow_92.dat is data taken on Oct. 27, 1992
• airglow_93.dat is data taken on Oct. 4, 1993
• airglow_94.dat is data taken on Nov. 3, 1994

Solar XUV Image at 17 nm

Solar XUV Images

The following solar images are in GIF format. The images have been corrected by its flat field image; however, there remains a residual grid of the foil filter mesh in these images.

• Solar Image at 17 nm for Oct. 27, 1992
• Solar Image at 17 nm for Oct. 4, 1993
• Solar Image at 17 nm for Nov. 3, 1994

The following solar EUV irradiance models can be loaded by your Web browser by clicking on the links. You can also obtain these files as an "anonymous" FTP user on the "laspftp.colorado.edu" computer. These files are in the "pub/rocket/" directory.

Solar EUV Irradiance Proxy Models

1. EUV97.pro is a IDL version of Kent Tobiska's solar EUV irradiance proxy model named EUV97. The data files needed for the EUV97 model are EUV97coef.txt, EUV97index0.dat, EUV97index1.dat, EUV97index2.dat, and EUV97index3.dat. The brief documentation for EUV97 is the EUV97.doc file, and you can e-mail to Kent Tobiska more information at ktobiska@gllsvc.jpl.nasa.gov.

2. euv81.pro is an IDL version of the Hinteregger proxy model of the solar irradiances that uses the 10.7-cm radio flux as the proxy. One also needs the sc21ref2.dat that is a data file for the euv81.pro function.

3. euvac.pro is an IDL version of the EUVAC proxy model [Richards et al., 1994].

4. heuvac_idl.zip is an IDL version of the High-resolution EUVAC (HEUVAC) proxy model by Phil Richards. The June 2005 FORTRAN versions of the HEUVAC model are the HEUVAC-PLUS.zip and the HEUVAC-Lite.zip. The COSPAR 2004 paper [Richards et al., 2005] about the HEUVAC model is part of the HEUVAC_Lite.zip package. The "PLUS" version includes photoelectron production frequencies in addition to the basic solar irradiance model that is in the "Lite" version. You can contact Phil Richards about HEUVAC model questions by e-mail at richards@cs.uah.edu.

5. solar_vuv_f7.pro or VUV2002 model is IDL code for the Woods and Rottman [2002] reference spectra that uses the 10.7-cm radio flux as the proxy. One also needs the ref_min_27day_11yr.dat that is a data file for the solar_vuv_f7.pro procedure.

6. SOLAR2000 The SOLAR2000 model is part of SET's Solar Irradiance Platform that provides historical, nowcast, and forecast solar irradiances and indices. The empirical and physics-based models complement the near real-time data streams from several space instruments to provide a full spectrum of the Sun. Short wavelengths are available on 1-minute time resolution, at 0.1 nm resolution starting in 1986.

The following text files can be loaded by your Web browser by clicking on the links. You can also obtain these files as an "anonymous" FTP user on the "laspftp.colorado.edu" computer. These files are in the "pub/rocket/" directory.

Freeware IDL Code

1. read_dat.pro is a procedure to read the "*.dat" files from the above data sets.

2. write_dat.pro is a procedure that wrote the "*.dat" files in the above data sets.

Freeware Macintosh Applications

1. Imager is a Macintosh application to read and display 2-dimensional detector data. You have to un-BinHex this file and then execute it to decompress the files.

2. HelpMate Pro is a Macintosh application to read, display, and print the manual included with the Imager application. You have to un-BinHex this file and then execute it to decompress the files.

Papers Related To This Rocket Experiment

1. Woods, T. N. and G. J. Rottman, Solar EUV irradiance derived from a sounding rocket experiment on 10 November 1988, J. Geophys. Res. 95, 6227-6236, 1990.

2. Woods, T. , Working group 4 and 5 report for 1991 SOLERS 22 workshop, Proc. of SOLERS 22 Workshop, D. Donnelly (editor), 460-467, 1992.

3. Woods, T. N., S. Bailey, S. C. Solomon, and G. J. Rottman, Far ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet rocket instrumentation for measuring the solar spectral irradiance and terrestrial airglow, SPIE Proceedings , 1745, 140-148, 1992.

4. Schmidtke, G., T. N. Woods, J. Worden, H. Doll, S. C. Solomon, and G. J. Rottman, Solar EUV irradiance from the San Marco ASSI: a reference spectrum, Geophys. Res. Letters, 19, 2175-2178, 1992.

5. Woods, T. N., G. J. Rottman, S. Bailey, and S. C. Solomon, Vacuum-ultraviolet instrumentation for solar irradiance and thermospheric airglow, Optical Eng., 33, 438-444, 1994.

6. Canfield, L. R., R. Vest, T. N. Woods, and R. S. Korde, Silicon photodiodes with integrated thin film filters for selective bandpasses in the extreme ultraviolet, SPIE Proceedings, 2282, 1994.

7. Judge, P. G., T. N. Woods, P. Brekke, and G. J. Rottman, On the failure of standard emission measure analysis for solar extreme-ultraviolet and ultraviolet irradiance spectra, Ap. J. Letters, 455, L85-L88, 1995.

8. Baily, S. M., Response of the Upper Atmosphere to Variations in the Solar Soft X-Ray Irradiance, Univ. of Colorado dissertation, Boulder, Colorado, 1995.

9. Worden, J., T. N. Woods, G. J. Rottman, G. Schmidtke, H. Tai, H. G. Doll, and S. C. Solomon, Calibration of the San Marco Airglow-Solar Spectrometer Instrument in the extreme ultraviolet, Optical Eng., 35, 554-563, 1996.

10. Worden, J. R., O. R. White, and T. N. Woods, Evolution of chromospheric structures derived from Ca II K spectroheliograms: implications for solar ultraviolet irradiance variability, Ap. J., 496, 998-1014, 1998.

11. Worden, J. R., O. R. White, and T. N. Woods, Solar variability indices derived from Ca II K spectroheliograms, Solar Physics, 177, 255-264, 1997.

12. Woods, T. N. and G. J. Rottman, Solar Lyman-a irradiance measurements during two solar cycles, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 8769-8779, 1997.

13. Bailey, S. M., T. N. Woods, L. R. Canfield, R. Korde, C. A. Barth, S. C. Solomon, and G. J. Rottman, Sounding rocket measurements of the solar soft x-ray irradiance, Solar Physics, in press, 1998.

14. Woods, T. N., G. J. Rottman, S. M. Bailey, S. C. Solomon, and J. Worden, Solar extreme ultraviolet irradiance measurements during solar cycle 22, Solar Physics, 177, 133-146, 1998.

Return to Rocket Home Page

Go to LASP home page

Revised January 2007