Long-Term Trend Analysis in the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE)/Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM)

• Published in: Solar physics Vol. 297; no. 6; p. 69
• Main Authors: Harder, Jerald W., Béland, Stéphane, Penton, Steven, Woods, Thomas N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aerospace environments; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Atmospheric Sciences; Irradiance; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Radiation; Solar cycle; Solar physics; Solar radiation; Solar spectral irradiance; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Spectrometers; The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) Mission: Final Calibrations and Data Products; Trend analysis; Instrument effects; Solar spectral irradiance; Sun-climate observations
• ISSN: 0038-0938; 1573-093X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11207-022-02001-9

The
Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment
/
Spectral Irradiance Monitor
(SORCE/SIM) instrument was launched on 25 January 2003 with mission termination occurring on 25 February 2020. The SORCE/SIM provides a unique data set of the variability in solar spectral irradiance (SSI) during the descending phase of Solar Cycle 23 (SC23) from April 2003 to February 2009, the weaker solar-maximum conditions of SC24, and the quiescent SC24/SC25 minimum. The determination of the magnitude and phase of SSI variations rely on the unambiguous determination of the effects of the space environment and solar-exposure-related degradation mechanisms. The instrument-only corrections for SIM are based on a comparison of two functionally identical (mirror image) prism spectrometers with four independent detectors in each spectrometer channel. The degradation correction is strictly instrumental in its methodology and makes no assumptions about the magnitude, slope, or wavelength dependence of the SSI variability.