New absolute measurements of the solar spectrum 310–685 nm

Abstract

During 1986–1989 at the high-altitude station on the Peak Terskol, Caucasus (h = 3000 m) absolute measurements of the solar disk-centre intensity were performed. The observations were carried out with the specialized solar telescope (D = 23 cm,F = 3 m) and grating spectrometer (F = 2 m, grating 140 × 150 mm, 600 grooves mm⁻¹). The ribbon tungsten lamps used for absolute calibration were calibrated to the USSR standard of spectral intensity and were also compared with the irradiance standard of the PMO/WRC (Davos, Switzerland), with the lamps used in the Alma-Ata Observatory (Kazakhstan) and in Simferopol University for absolute measurements of stellar spectra. Methods and apparatus were improving step by step during 1985–1988. Special care was paid to the study of all possible sources of errors, in particular to the method of correction for atmospheric extinction, to polarization properties of optical elements of the apparatus, and to establishing the most reliable absolute calibration system. Finally, the observations performed during 1989 utilized only the refined methods and apparatus. As a result, the absolute integrals of the solar disk-centre intensity for 1-nm wide spectral bands in the range 310–685 nm are available. We estimate the total error is 2.5% at 310 nm and 2.1% at 680 nm. The absolute irradiance for 5-nm wide spectral bands is also obtained. We compare our results with results by Neckel and Labs (1984), with the irradiance filter measurements performed in PMO/WRC and calibration of the Sun's spectral irradiance to the stellar irradiance standard Vega by Lockwood (1992). Our results show a systematic difference with data by Neckel and Labs in the near-ultraviolet. The results by Neckel and Labs are probably underestimated in this spectral range by 8%.