The variability of the solar output

Abstract

A review of solar constant determinations and measurements of its spectral distribution is presented. For the period from 1966 to 1980 a mean value of 1367 Wm-2 was determined. Within the corresponding uncertainty, no significant change of both the integral value and the spectral distribution can be detected. However, short term solar variations and their spectral dependence were deduced from measurements during four hours on June 20, 1980 from 34 km altitude with amplitudes of + or - 500 ppm at 368 nm, of 200 ppm at 500 nm and + or - 150 ppm at 778 nm. Comparison with simultaneous total irradiance data of the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) shows a high correlation which indicates the solar origin. The power spectrum shows a weak peak at about 3.2 mHz, which corresponds to the frequency of the 5 minutes solar oscillation.