Characteristics of solar-irradiance spectra from measurements, modeling, and theoretical approach

An accurate solar-irradiance spectrum is needed as an input to any planetary atmosphere or climate model. Depending on the spectral characteristics of the chosen model, uncertainties in the irradiance may introduce significant differences in atmospheric and climate predictions. This is why several solar spectral-irradiance data sets have been published during the last decade. They have been obtained by different methods: either measurements from a single instrument or a composite of different spectra, or they are theoretical or semi-empirical solar models. In this paper, these spectral datasets will be compared in terms of irradiance, power per spectral interval, their derived solar-atmosphere brightness temperature, and time series. Whatever the different sources of these spectra are, they generally agree to within their quoted accuracy. The solar-rotation effect simultaneously observed by SORCE and PREMOS–PICARD is accurately measured. The 11-year long-term variability remains a difficult task, given the weak activity of solar cycle 24 and long-term instrument aging.