Solar Variability and Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) (2009)

Synopsis

Analyzing the Sun and its affects on climate is complicated by the fact that the amount of radiation arriving from the Sun is not constant. It varies from the average value of the total solar irradiance (TSI)--1,361 W/m2--on a daily basis. Variations in TSI are due to a balance between decreases caused by sunspots and increases caused by faculae, which are the bright areas that surround sunspots. The Sun's energy output varies with time, and Glory's TIM instrument will help measure those fluctuations by continued monitoring of TSI data. Data from Glory's TIM instrument will extend the long-term climate record, which has been uninterrupted since 1978 and provides the best estimate available of solar inputs to climate. This short movie displays the Sun rotating and the corresponding total solar irradiance. Note: This data is from October 2003, and displays the largest recorded short-term decrease in TSI. Producer: Maria Frostic (UMBC). Scientist: Greg Kopp (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics).

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time

1 minutes

Collection

NASA