James McGrail
LASP

Mentors: Marty Snow, Erik Richard

Abstract:
The Magnesium II index has been shown to be a good measure of solar activity, meaning it is highly correlated to EUV and FUV variability.  It is measured as a core-to-wing ratio around the emission feature at 280 nm.  This part of the spectrum has been measured by many different instruments since 1978.  By comparing these different sets of data with several techniques, it is possible to make a new composite Mg II index that is better at predicting solar irradiance than the standard NOAA Mg II index.