- Available TSI Data Summary Table/Data Access
- Reading SORCE TSI Data Product Files
- SORCE TSI Plots
- Data Product Description
- Data Quality Description
- Measurement Objectives
- Data Product Summary
- Research and Applications
- Data Set Evolution
- Instrument Description
- TIM Data Product Release Notes
- Scientific Contact
- References
Available TSI Data Summary Table/Data Access
Full mission downloadable data files updated nightly.
Instrument |
Time Cadence |
Spectral Coverage |
Spectral Resolution |
Level |
Version |
Data Info |
Full Mission Download |
Interactive Access |
File Readers (Listed by Lanuguage) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TIM | Daily | All | N/A | 3 | 9 |
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| TIM | 6-Hourly | All | N/A | 3 | 9 |
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- text file, - Interactive
Reading SORCE TSI Data Product Files
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.
SORCE TSI Plots (Updated Mondays)
The TIM instrument measures the Total Solar Irradiance (TSI), monitoring changes in incident sunlight to the Earth's atmosphere using an ambient temperature active cavity radiometer to an absolute accuracy of 100 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 SORCE 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 products are produced - one containing the daily means and the other containing the four 6-hourly means. Due to the small size (< 300 KB) of the daily data and to maximize ease of use to end-users, each delivered TSI product contains science results for the entire mission. Updates to Level 3 TSI data occur monthly in order to reduce repeated delivery of data. Lower-level data products (e.g. Level 2) are primarily considered diagnostic with limited scientific value, and are therefore not delivered to the GES DISC. These data are, however, available upon request from the SORCE science team.
Data Quality Description (updated 13 December 2005)
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. Only minor corrections are anticipated at this phase in the SORCE/TIM mission. To date the TIM is proving very stable with usage and solar exposure, and long-term relative uncertainties are estimated to be less than 0.014 W/m2/yr (10 ppm/yr). Present absolute accuracy is estimated to be 0.48 W/m^2 (350 ppm), largely determined by the agreement between all four TIM radiometers. There remains an unresolved 4.5 W/m^2 difference between the TIM and other space-borne radiometers, and this difference is being studied by the TSI and radiometry communities.
The primary objective of the SORCE 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 continue the long-term climate record. Once on-orbit instrument characterization is complete, these TSI measurements will be provided with a relative standard uncertainty (absolute accuracy) of approximately 0.01% (100 parts per million, ppm) based on SI units and with a long-term precision (relative accuracy) of 0.001%/yr (10 ppm).
The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) measures the total solar irradiance (TSI), a measure of 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 SORCE spacecraft orbit) from the TIM instrument are combined to produce representative daily and 6-hourly values of the Total Solar Irradiance. Four TIM 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 SORCE 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.
Measurements of total solar irradiance (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 25 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 measurements, since the solar records extend back 100 years for faculae and 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 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 record which is currently only 25 years long.
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. Total Solar Irradiance (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 two instruments on the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). 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 SORCE TSI data set continues these important observations with improved accuracy on the order of ±0.01%.
The ERBS, ACRIM-III, and VIRGO continue to make observations. Willson [1997] combined the ACRIM-I and ACRIM-II data sets using their overlap with the ERB data, and his analysis suggests a net increase of solar radiation between solar minima in 1986 and 1996. (Note: only two solar minima have actually been observed thus far). The estimated increase of 0.04% would induce appreciable climate change if it persists for a sufficient number of solar cycles and if the climate system feedbacks reached their full equilibrium response to the forcing.
For a description of the TIM instrument go to the SORCE TIM overview page.
Dr. Greg Kopp (See Biography)
LASP/ CU (303) 735-0934
Email: (use firstname.lastname.colorado.edu)
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.
