Revisiting the SATIRE-S irradiance reconstruction: Heritage of Mt Wilson magnetograms and Ca II K observations

Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, Göttingen 37077, Germany

^⋆ Corresponding author; chatzistergos@mps.mpg.de

Received: 5 February 2025
Accepted: 19 March 2025

Abstract

Context. Accurate information on long-term variations in solar irradiance, important for understanding the solar influence on Earth’s climate, cannot be derived from direct irradiance measurements due to the comparatively short lifetimes of space-borne experiments. Models using measurements of the solar photospheric magnetic field as input can provide an independent assessment of the changes.

Aims. The Spectral And Total Irradiance Reconstruction in the satellite era (SATIRE-S) model does just that. Unfortunately, the magnetogram archives used by SATIRE-S to recover irradiance variations are also relatively short-lived and have short mutual overlapping periods, making it difficult to evaluate their consistency. To overcome this and bridge the various archives more reliably, we include additional input data sets.

Methods. We improve SATIRE-S total solar irradiance (TSI) reconstruction by firstly incorporating magnetograms from the Mt Wilson Observatory as well as unsigned magnetograms reconstructed from Meudon, Rome, and San Fernando Ca II K data, and secondly, by re-analysing all periods of overlaps between the various archives.

Results. Our combined daily irradiance reconstruction from all eight input archives returns an excellent agreement with direct measurements of irradiance, in particular we find a correlation coefficient of 0.98 when compared to TSIS1/TIM (Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor Total Irradiance Monitor) data. The minimum-to-minimum TSI difference between 1976 and 2019 is −0.2 ± 0.17 Wm⁻², while the TSI difference between the 1986 and 2019 minima is statistically insignificant (−0.06 ± 0.13 Wm⁻²). Our analysis also sheds light on the trend shown by the TSI over the so-called ACRIM gap, disfavouring a hypothesised increasing trend in TSI in that period.

Conclusions. By including more direct and indirect magnetogram time series, we have made the TSI reconstructed by SATIRE-S more robust and accurate. The new series shows a reduced trend of decreasing TSI over the last half century, which agrees well with most composites of measured TSI.