Why isn't the solar constant a constant?
Abstract
In order to probe the mechanism of variations of the Solar Constant on the inter-solar-cycle scale, total solar irradiance (TSI, the so-called Solar Constant) in the time interval of 7 November 1978 to 20 September 2010 is decomposed into three components through the empirical mode decomposition and time-frequency analyses. The first component is the rotation signal, counting up to 42.31% of the total variation of TSI, which is understood to be mainly caused by large magnetic structures, including sunspot groups. The second is an annual-variation signal, counting up to 15.17% of the total variation, the origin of which is not known at this point in time. Finally, the third is the inter-solar-cycle signal, counting up to 42.52%, which are inferred to be caused by the network magnetic elements in quiet regions, whose magnetic flux ranges from Mx.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1201.0819,
title = {Why isn't the solar constant a constant?},
author = {K. J. Li and W. Feng and J. C. Xu and P. X. Gao and L. H. Yang and H. F. Liang and L. S. Zhan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1201.0819},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
to appear in ApJ