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SOVAP/Picard, a Spaceborne Radiometer to Measure the Total Solar Irradiance

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Abstract

The Picard spacecraft was successfully launched on 15 June 2010, into a Sun-synchronous orbit. The mission represents one of the European contributions to solar observations and Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) measurements. The payload is composed of a Solar Diameter Imager and Surface Mapper (SODISM) and two radiometers: SOlar VAriability Picard (SOVAP) and PREcision MOnitor Sensor (PREMOS). SOVAP, a dual side-by-side cavity radiometer, measures the total solar irradiance (TSI). It is the sixth of a series of differential absolute-radiometer-type instruments developed and operated in space by the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium. The measurements of SOVAP in the summer of 2010 yielded a TSI value of 1362.1 W m−2 with an uncertainty of ± 2.4 W m−2 (k=1). During the periods of November 2010 and January 2013, the amplitude of the changes in TSI has been on the order of 0.18 %, corresponding to a range of about 2.4 W m−2.

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Acknowledgements

Picard is a mission supported by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the CNRS/INSU, the Belgian Space Policy (BELSPO), the Swiss Space Office (SSO), and the European Space Agency (ESA). The following institutes are acknowledged for providing the data: Solar Influences Data Center (Belgium), the Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos (Switzerland), and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (United Sates). We thank RMIB, and CNRS for their support, as well as all participants providing their expertise to this study (Sami Bali, Pierre Malcorps, and Joël Pierard). We wish to express our gratitude to Dominique Crommelynck (RMIB), who designed and developed the DIARAD-type radiometers. The authors thank the referee for the constructive remarks and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LATMOS – Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux et Observations Spatiales, CNRS – Université Paris VI & Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines – IPSL, 78280, Guyancourt, France

    M. Meftah & A. Irbah

  2. RMIB, Avenue Circulaire, 3, 1180, Uccle, Belgium

    S. Dewitte, A. Chevalier, C. Conscience, D. Crommelynck, E. Janssen & S. Mekaoui

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  1. M. Meftah
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  2. S. Dewitte
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  5. C. Conscience
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  6. D. Crommelynck
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  8. S. Mekaoui
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Correspondence to M. Meftah.

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Meftah, M., Dewitte, S., Irbah, A. et al. SOVAP/Picard, a Spaceborne Radiometer to Measure the Total Solar Irradiance. Sol Phys 289, 1885–1899 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-013-0443-0

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