Solar irradiance variations from photometry of active regions

The Extreme Limb Photometer (ELP) has been used to measure the irradiance fluctuation of the Sun due to selected active regions. Forty-five active regions that were completely scanned at various disk positions are included in the analysis. The contribution of these active regions to a global solar irradiance fluctuation has been correlated with photometric sunspot and facular indices (PSI and PFI) using published values of sunspot and calcium plage areas. The measured ELP fluctuations are converted to a global brightness fluctuation, B/B. The sunspot component of B/B correlates with PSI with r = 0.95. The facular component of B/B correlates with PFI with r - 0.72. The expression for PFI is important to the question of energy balance between sunspots and faculae and the results presented here are not incompatible with energy balance between the two phenomena; that is the energy deficit of sunspots may be balanced by the energy excess of faculae.     

Solar active regions at millimeter wavelengths

Some properties of solar active regions at 9, 3.5 and 1.2 mm wavelengths are discussed. The regions have excess brightness temperatures of up to 1000, 700 and 150 K at 9, 3.5 and 1.2 mm wavelengths. The background radiation at 3.5 mm is often seen to be absorbed in regions closely coincident with H dark filaments on the disk. Interpretation of this absorption as due to the large optical thickness of the overlying filamentary material leads to an estimate of electron density in the filaments. The 9 and 3.5 mm- regions show almost one-to-one correspondence with the Ca-plage regions as well as with the regions on magnetograms. The latter relationship suggests the possibility of measuring chromospheric magnetic fields from the measurement of polarization at millimeter wavelengths.     

Slow changes of solar irradiance and energetics of active regions

A new numerical technique is applied to study long-term variations of total solar irradiance. The background solar flux is estimated not from, e.g., a running mean but as the mode on a moving short time interval. Statistical properties of short-term variations with respect to the running mode are studied. The probability distribution function describing the data from Nimbus-7 is asymmetric and departs from a Gaussian.The ratio of time-integrated short-term negative and positive deviations shows that the energy re-radiated from faculae makes up about 40% of the energy blocked by sunspots. The amplitude and phase relations are studied between deviations which decrease and increase the irradiance. They characterize the mechanism of energy transformation with frequency. The cross-covariance analysis reveals that some parts of the energy blocked by sunspots come to the surface of the Sun after long delays.     

Modulation of Solar Constant by Active Regions during 1980

Irradiance records of the Nimbus-7 and SMM satellites indicate a systematic downward trend of the solar constant of the order of a few hundredths of a percent and a slow variation of the solar constant on a time scale from days to weeks. The reason for the downward trend is not known as yet; it seems that the slow variation of the solar constant is linked with the solar rotation period via the effect of solar active regions. This paper deals with the connection between the solar constant variation and the age of the solar active regions. It seems that decreases in the solar constant took place when sunspot groups developing quickly in time and space with complex structure occurred on the solar disk. On the other hand, when the “older” groups with simple structure were dominant the value of the solar constant increased slightly or these groups could reduce the effects of “younger” groups.     

Solar total irradiance observations by Active Cavity Radiometers

Pyrheliometry, definition of the radiation scale in the International System of Units and monitoring the variability of solar total irradiance have been a focus of research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since the mid 1960's. A series of automated, electrically self-calibrating, cavity pyrheliometers known as Active Cavity Radiometers (ACR's) was developed as part of this program. A series of ground based experiments in 1968–69 led to the discovery of a systematic error in the International Pyrheliometric Scale. ACR's were among the instruments used to define the World Radiometric Reference in 1975.ACR flight experiments have been conducted to determine the 1 AU total solar irradiance and monitor its variability in time. A 1969 balloon experiment yielded a 1366 W m^-2 result. The value from a 1976 sounding rocket experiment was 1368.1 W m^-2. The results for two additional rocket experiments in 1978 and 80, revised in accordance with recent calibrations of ACR response to elevated pressures during these flights are: 1367.6 and 1367.8 W m^-2, respectively. An ACR experiment (ACRIM) on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite has shown continuous variability of the total solar flux below the ±0.05% level and two large, temporary decreases of 0.1–0.2% lasting more than a week. The mean 1 AU total flux for ACRIM's first five months' observations was 1367.7 W m^-2. Inflight comparison of ACR rocket and satellite measurements in May, 1980 demonstrated agreement to within ±0.05%. The 1 AU total solar irradiance results from ACR rocket and satellite experiments between 1976 and 1980 differ from their mean of 1367.8 W m^-2 by no more than ±0.02%. The less precise 1969 balloon result is 0.1% lower. Although no observations were made from 1970–75, if solar behaviour in those five years was similar to that observed since 1976 then the upper limits of long term solar total irradiance variability are ±0.2% for the 1969–1980 period and ±0.1% between 1976 and 1980, based on the set of ACR observations.Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16–19 September 1980, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.     

Solar noise simulations in irradiance

The global signature of granulation, meso- and supergranulation is calculated using values for intensities and lifetimes from spatially resolved observations. These simulations are compared with observations from ACRIM, IPHIR and the SOVA-1 photometers. The results indicate that the overall shape of the background signal in the simulations reproduce the observations at low frequency. However when the granulation lifetimes are about 500 seconds the simulated data do not correspond to the observations between 1 and 2 mHz.     

Ephemeral active regions during solar minimum

Ephemeral active regions (ER) identified on Kitt Peak daily full-disk magnetograms from April through November 1975 were analyzed and compared with larger active regions during the same interval. The 1975 ER were also compared with ER data from 1970, 1973, 1976, and 1977. ER were found to vary approximately with the sunspot cycle. However, a minimum in the number of ER occurred at least one year prior to sunspot minimum. All evidence to date indicates that the early ER minimum was due to the rise of solar cycle 21 primarily in the form of ER. ER were statistically identified as belonging to both outgoing solar cycle 20 and incoming cycle 21 by maxima in their distribution in latitude and by their statistically dominant orientation as a function of latitude. From the identification of ER with specific solar cycles and the persistent presence of high latitude ER maxima since 1970, it is suggested that the outgoing and incoming solar cycles may co-exist on the sun longer than the 0–3 year period of overlap between successive cycles already known from the properties of large sunspot-producing active regions.Presently associated with Solar Physics Research Corporation, Tucson, Arizona and Visiting Astronomer at Kitt Peak National Observatory, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Solar irradiance changes caused by g-modes and large scale convection

Solar irradiance measurements from the ACRIM experiment show a clear response to the rotation periods of g-mode oscillations (l = 1, 2, and 3) and their first harmonics. Peaks in the ACRIM spectrum at 16.6, 18.3, 20.7, 36.5, and - 71 days all lie within about 1% of periods arising from g-mode rotation. This means that the g-modes are a fundamental cause of irradiance fluctuations. On time scales of months and less they modulate the irradiance by means of transient flows of global scale which they stimulate in the Sun's convective envelope. Dimensional arguments indicate that the flows carry up heat at an average rate 10^-3 L which is not in conflict with observed changes in the irradiance. Five additional tests for g-modes and large-scale convection are given. An instability is described which undermines diffusion models of sunspot energy storage.     

Solar oscillations observed in the total irradiance

The total solar irradiance measurements obtained by the active-cavity radiometer on board the Solar Maximum Mission have been analyzed for evidence of global oscillations. We find that the most energetic low-degree p-mode oscillations in the five-minute band have amplitudes of a few parts per million of the total irradiance, and we positively detect modes with l = 0, 1, and 2. The distribution in l differs from that of the velocity spectrum, with relatively more power at lower l values. The individual modes have narrow line widths, corresponding to values of Q greater than a few thousand, or lifetimes of at least a week. We do not detect the 160-min oscillation in the power spectrum, and place an upper limit of 5 parts per million (99.9% confidence) on its amplitude.     

Solar active regions at 9 and 3.5 mm wavelengths under disturbed conditions

Some properties of solar active regions at 9 and 3.5 mm wavelengths under disturbed conditions are discussed. New regions develop or weak regions intensify at millimeter wavelengths as a result of flares at distant sites. The spectra of the peak flux density of moderately strong bursts observed at 9 mm show a sharp drop toward the shorter millimeter wavelengths. The weak bursts at 3.5 mm manifest mainly as heating phenomena.     

10.7-cm Solar radio flux and the magnetic complexity of active regions

During sunspot cycles 20 and 21, the maximum in smoothed 10.7-cm solar radio flux occurred about 1.5 yr after the maximum smoothed sunspot number, whereas during cycles 18 and 19 no lag was observed. Thus, although 10.7-cm radio flux and Zürich suspot number are highly correlated, they are not interchangeable, especially near solar maximum. The 10.7-cm flux more closely follows the number of sunspots visible on the solar disk, while the Zürich sunspot number more closely follows the number of sunspot groups. The number of sunspots in an active region is one measure of the complexity of the magnetic structure of the region, and the coincidence in the maxima of radio flux and number of sunspots apparently reflects higher radio emission from active regions of greater magnetic complexity. The presence of a lag between sunspot-number maximum and radio-flux maximum in some cycles but not in others argues that some aspect of the average magnetic complexity near solar maximum must vary from cycle to cycle. A speculative possibility is that the radio-flux lag discriminates between long-period and short-period cycles, being another indicator that the solar cycle switches between long-period and short-period modes.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Solar irradiance variations and nonlinear mean field dynamo

By using a nonlinear model of an axisymmetric – dynamo, an analytical expression which gives the magnitude of the mean magnetic field as a function of rotation and other parameters for a solar-type convective zone is obtained. The mean magnetic field varies as the power of the rotation rate. The resulting theoretical relationship of the X-ray luminosity as a function of the angular velocity is in agreement with observations by Fleming, Gioia, and Maccacaro (1989).     

Sunspot photometry and the total solar irradiance deficit measured in 1980 by ACRIM

Until now a simple Photometric Sunspot Index (PSI) model was used (e.g. Willsonet al., 1981) to describe the contribution of sunspots to the solar irradiance deficit measurement by ACRIM. In this work we replace this model by a photometry of sunspot pictures for the period of 19 August to 4 September, 1980 taking into account the individual features, like lightbridges or umbral dots, of each spot. The main results of this preliminary analysis are: (1) theA _u/A _p ratios and alsos the values vary in a wide range and are by no means constant as in the PSI model; (2) the general trend of the irradiance deficit from our analysis agrees well with the ACRIM measurements; (3) on some days there are differences of more than 50% between the deficits derived from our measurements and from the PSI model.Paper presented at the 11th Eurpean Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain     

Solar irradiance below 120 nm and its variations

The solar irradiance below 120 nm was first predicted by astronomers. Since its accurate measurement required the solution of a variety of technological problems, little is known about the variability before 1972, though for more than two decades data have been collected. Therefore, on a quantitative basis only a very rough picture can be given for the solar cycle 19. Also, not enough data with sufficient absolute accuracy are available to describe the solar EUV flux variations of the solar cycle 20, especially during the period of solar maximum. However, due to technological improvements of space and laboratory instrumentations, an almost complete set of data has been obtained from 1972 to date. These observations exhibit strong differences of the flux variations from solar cycle 20 to 21. - For the theoretical and for semi-empirical treatments of many aeronomic processes controlled by the solar EUV radiation, its adequate representation e.g. as indices is required. The problems involved and possible solutions are discussed. Results from some relevant aeronomically oriented computations based on variable solar EUV fluxes are presented.Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16–19 September 1980, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.     

Solar irradiance from Nimbus-7 compared with ground-based photometry

We have compared total solar irradiance from Nimbus-7 with ground-based photometry from the San Fernando Observatory (SFO) for 109 days between June 1 and December 31, 1988. We have also included in some analyses NOAA-9 SBUV2 data orF10.7 radio flux. The Nimbus-7 data are from orbital samples, averaged to the mean time of observation at SFO. Using the same parameters as in Chapmanet al. (1992), the multiple regression gives anR ² = 0.9131 and a solar minimum irradiance,S ₀, = 1371.76 ± 0.18 W m^–2 for the best fit.     

Ephemeral active regions

Ephemeral active regions attain maximum development within 1 day or less of their initial appearance and are typically observed for 1–2 days. They appear mostly as small bipolar regions having a typical dimension of about 30000 km and a maximum total flux of the order of 10²⁰ Mx. The ephemeral regions generally do not produce sunspots and flares, though they are identified in H as small active centers.Our observations indicate that the ephemeral regions are frequently generated both near large active centers and in extensive quiet areas of the Sun. The location of emerging ephemeral regions does not appear to be associated with the distribution of the existing network fields. As many as 100 ephemeral regions may form per day. On the average, as much flux may erupt in the form of small ephemeral regions as erupts in larger active centers.The latitude distribution of ephemeral regions appears to be much wider than that of sunspots and major active centers. Their frequency of occurrence does not appear to follow the sunspot cycle.     

Solar total irradiance variability from SOVA 2 on board EURECA

The rotation of the magnetic axes of sunspot groups is studied as a function of the expansion and contraction of the groups along their magnetic axes. In general, except for the extreme values of tilt-angle change, slow rates of rotation of the magnetic axes are associated with low values of expansion or contraction, and faster rotation of the magnetic axes is associated with rapid expansion or contraction. The direction of rotation of the magnetic axes is related to expansion or contraction in the sense that would be predicted by the Coriolis force. A comparison of the effect at high and low latitudes shows a difference that further supports the Coriolis force hypothesis, and an examination of the amplitude of the effect also suggests that the Coriolis force may be a factor in the tilt-angle rotation of spot groups.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation.     

Solar irradiance between 120 and 400nm and its variations

The solar ultraviolet irradiance measurements in the 120–400 nm wavelength range are reviewed and compared showing still important discrepancies between the irradiance values deduced from the most recent observations.The possible variations of the solar ultraviolet irradiances with the 27-day rotation period of the Sun and with the 11-year activity cycle are presented and discussed on the basis of the available irradiation fluxes obtained during the rising phase of solar cycle 21.The spectral features of both kinds of variation are clearly related to the solar atmospheric layer from which the corresponding radiation is emitted.Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16–19 September 1980, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.     

Solar cycle variation of the microwave spectrum and total irradiance

We have extended the proxy relationship between irradiance and microwaves by using the daily solar fluxes from Toyokawa Observatory at 1000, 2000, 3750 and 9400 MHz in addition to the Ottawa 2800 MHz flux for the years 1980–1989. It turns out that the flux at 1000 MHz is better correlated with irradiance than the flux at higher frequencies-an unexpected result. We have also found that the spectrum of the flux shows shape changes that are related to the number and type of active regions. Because of this the five-frequency spectral measurements of microwave flux allow one to separate the sunspot and coronal features, providing an improved proxy of solar variability.