Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Solar Variability of Possible Relevance for Planetary Climates

  • Published:
Space Science Reviews Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The global variability of the Sun of relevance for planetary climates has been directly measured for the past few decades. For longer stretches of time models are required. Semi-empirical models can now accurately reproduce the measured records of solar total and spectral irradiance, as well as of the magnetic flux. They can also provide reconstructions of these quantities on longer time scales. Here a summary is given of some of the modelling efforts and of the results achieved so far.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arge, C. N., Hildner, E., Pizzo, V. J., and Harvey, J. W.: 2002, ‘Two solar cycles of nonincreasing magnetic flux’, J. Geophys. Res. 107, doi:10.1029/2001JA000503.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baliunas, S. and Jastrow, R.: 1990, ‘Evidence for long-term brightness changes of solar-type stars’, Nature 348, 520–523.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Beer, J., Blinov, A., Bonani, G., et al.: 1990, ‘Use of 10 Be in polar ice to trace the 11-year cycle of solar activity’, Nature 347, 164–166.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Beer, J., Vonmoos, M., and Muscheler, R.: 2006, ‘Solar variability over the past several millennia’, Space Sci. Rev., this volume, doi: 10.1007/s11214-006-9047-4.

  • Chapman, G. A., Cookson, A. M., and Dobias, J. J.: 1996, ‘Variations in total solar irradiance during solar cycle 22’, J. Geophys. Res. 101, 13,541–13,548.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeWitte, S., Crommelynck, D., Mekaoui, S., and Joukoff, A.: 2004, ‘Measurement and uncertainty of the long term total solar irradiance trend’, Solar Phys. 224, 209–216.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ermolli, I., Berrilli, F., and Florio, A.: 2003, ‘A measure of the network radiative properties over the solar activity cycle’, Astron. Astrophys. 412, 857–864.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Fligge, M. and Solanki, S. K.: 2000, ‘The solar spectral irradiance since 1700’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 27, 2157–2160.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Fligge, M., Solanki, S. K., and Unruh, Y. C.: 2000, ‘Modelling irradiance variations from the surface distribution of the solar magnetic field’, Astron. Astrophys. 353, 380–388.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Fontenla, J., White, O. R., Fox, P. A., Avrett, E. H., and Kurucz, R. L.: 1999, ‘Calculation of solar irradiances. I. Synthesis of the solar spectrum’, Astrophys. J. 518, 480–499.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Fontenla, J. M., Harder, J., Rottman, G., Woods, T. N., Lawrence, G. M., and Davis, S.: 2004, ‘The signature of solar activity in the infrared spectral irradiance’, Astrophys. J. Lett. 605, L85–L88.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Foster, S.: 2004, ‘Reconstruction of Solar Irradiance Variations for use in Studies of Global Climate Change: Application of Recent SOHO Observations with Historic Data from the Greenwich Observatory’, Ph.D. thesis, University of Southhampton, Faculty of Science, School of Physics and Astronomy.

  • Foukal, P. and Lean, J.: 1990, ‘An empirical model of total solar irradiance variation between 1874 and 1988’, Science 247, 556–558.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Fröhlich, C.: 2003, ‘Solar irradiance variations’, ESA SP 535, 183–193.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Fröhlich, C.: 2004, ‘Re-analysis of the long-term changes of the NIMBUS-7 radiometer and behaviour of total solar irradiance during solar cycle 21’, AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, p. A301.

  • Fröhlich, C.: 2006, ‘Solar irradiance variability since 1978’, Space Sci. Rev., this volume, doi: 10.1007/s11214-006-9046-5.

  • Fröhlich, C. and Lean, J.: 1997, ‘Total solar irradiance variations: The construction of a composite and its comparison with models’, ESA SP 415, 227–233.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Fröhlich, C., Romero, J., Roth, H., et al.: 1995, ‘VIRGO: Experiment for helioseismology and solar irradiance monitoring’, Solar Phys. 162, 101–128.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Giampapa, M. S.: 2005, ‘Stellar analogs of solar activity’, in: The Sun, Solar Analogs and the Climate, 34th ‘Saas Fee’ Advanced Course, Berlin, pp. 307–415.

  • Haberreiter, M., Krivova, N. A., Schmutz, W., and Wenzler, T.: 2005, ‘Reconstruction of the solar UV irradiance back to 1974’, Adv. Sp. Res. 35, 365–369.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Haigh, J. D. and Blackburn, M.: 2006, ‘Solar influences on dynamical coupling between the stratopshere and troposphere’, Space Sci. Rev., this volume, doi: 10.1007/s11214-006-9067-0.

  • Hall, J. C. and Lockwood, G. W.: 2004, ‘The chromospheric activity and variability of cycling and flat activity solar-analog stars’, Astrophys. J. 614, 942–946.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, K. L.: 1994, ‘The solar magnetic cycle’, in: R. J. Rutten and C. J. Schrijver (eds.), Solar Surface Magnetism, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Soesterberg, The Netherlands, 1993, Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 347.

  • Jain, K. and Hasan, S. S.: 2004, ‘Reconstruction of the past total solar irradiance on short timescales’, J. Geophys. Res. 109, doi:10.1029/2003JA010222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krivova, N. A. and Solanki, S. K.: 2004, ‘Effect of spatial resolution on estimating the Sun’s magnetic flux’, Astron. Astrophys. 417, 1125–1132.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Krivova, N. A. and Solanki, S. K.: 2005, ‘Reconstruction of solar UV irradiance’, Adv. Sp. Res. 35, 361–364.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Krivova, N. A., Solanki, S. K., Fligge, M., and Unruh, Y. C.: 2003, ‘Reconstruction of solar total and spectral irradiance variations in cycle 23: is solar surface magnetism the cause?’, Astron. Astrophys. 399, L1–L4.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Lean, J., Skumanich, A., and White, O.: 1992, ‘Estimating the Sun’s radiative output during the Maunder minimum’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 19, 1595–1598.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Lean, J., Beer, J., and Bradley, R.: 1995, ‘Reconstruction of solar irradiance since 1610: Implications for climate change’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 3195–3198.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, M.: 2005, ‘Solar outputs, their variations and their effects on Earth’, in: The Sun, Solar Analogs and the Climate, 34th ‘Saas Fee’ Advanced Course, Berlin, pp. 109–306.

  • Lockwood, M., Stamper, R., and Wild, M. N.: 1999, ‘A doubling of the Sun’s coronal magnetic field during the last 100 years’, Nature 399, 437–439.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ortiz, A., Domingo, V., Sanahuja, B., and Sánchez, L.: 2000, ‘An Example of Isolated Active Region Energy Evolution: NOAA AR 7978’, in: ESA SP-463: The Solar Cycle and Terrestrial Climate, Solar and Space weather, pp. 395–398.

  • Preminger, D. G., Walton, S. R., and Chapman, G. A.: 2002, ‘Photometric quantities for solar irradiance modeling’, J. Geophys. Res. 107, doi:10.1029/2001JA009169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, H. and Brasseur, G. P.: 2006, ‘The response of the middla atmosphere to solar cycle forcing in the Hamburg model of the neutral and ionized atmosphere’, Space Sci. Rev., this volume, doi: 10.1007/s11214-006-9068-z.

  • Solanki, S. K. and Fligge, M.: 1999, ‘A reconstruction of total solar irradiance since 1700’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 26, 2465–2468.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Solanki, S. K., Schüssler, M., and Fligge, M.: 2000, ‘Evolution of the Sun’s large-scale magnetic field since the Maunder minimum’, Nature 408, 445–447.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Solanki, S. K., Schüssler, M., and Fligge, M.: 2002, ‘Secular variation of the Sun’s magnetic flux’, Astron. Astrophys. 383, 706–712.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Solanki, S. K., Usoskin, I. G., Kromer, B., Schüssler, M., and Beer, J.: 2004, ‘Unusual activity of the Sun during recent decades compared to the previous 11,000 years’, Nature 431, 1084–1087.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Spruit, H. C.: 1982, ‘Effect of spots on a star’s radius and luminosity’, Astron. Astrophys. 108, 348–355.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver, M. and Quay, P. D.: 1980, ‘Changes in atmospheric Carbon-14 attributed to a variable sun’, Science 207, 11–19.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Unruh, Y. C., Solanki, S. K., and Fligge, M.: 1999, ‘The spectral dependence of facular contrast and solar irradiance variations’, Astron. Astrophys. 345, 635–642.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Usoskin, I. G., Mursula, K., Solanki, S. K., Schüssler, M., and Kovaltsov, G. A.: 2002, ‘A physical reconstruction of cosmic ray intensity since 1610’, J. Geophys. Res. 107, doi:10.1029/2002JA009343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Usoskin, I. G., Solanki, S. K., Schüssler, M., Mursula, K., and Alanko, K.: 2003, ‘Millennium-scale sunspot number reconstruction: Evidence for an unusually active sun since the 1940s’, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 211,101–211,104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Usoskin, I. G., Mursula, K., Solanki, S., Schüssler, M., and Alanko, K.: 2004, ‘Reconstruction of solar activity for the last millennium using 10 Be data’, Astron. Astrophys. 413, 745–751.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y.-M., Lean, J. L., and Sheeley, N. R.: 2005, ‘Modeling the sun’s magnetic field and irradiance since 1713’, Astrophys. J. 625, 522–538.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Wenzler, T., Solanki, S. K., Krivova, N. A., and Fluri, D. M.: 2004, ‘Comparison between KPVT/SPM and SoHO/MDI magnetograms with an application to solar irradiance reconstructions’, Astron. Astrophys. 427, 1031–1043.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Wenzler, T., Solanki, S. K., and Krivova, N. A.: 2005, ‘Can surface magnetic fields reproduce solar irradiance variations in cycles 22 and 23?’, Astron. Astrophys. 432, 1057–1061.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Wenzler, T., Solanki, S. K., Krivova, N. A., and Fröhlich, C.: 2006, ‘Reconstruction of solar irradiance variations in cycles 21–23 based on surface magnetic fields’, Astron. Astrophys., in press.

  • Willson, R. C. and Mordvinov, A. V.: 2003, ‘Secular total solar irradiance trend during solar cycles 21–23’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, 1199, doi:10.1029/2002GL016038.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, J. T.: 2004, ‘Do we know of any maunder minimum stars?’, Astron. J. 128, 1273–1278.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Max-Planck-Str. 2, D-37191, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

    S. K. Solanki & N. A. Krivova

Authors
  1. S. K. Solanki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. N. A. Krivova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. K. Solanki.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Solanki, S.K., Krivova, N.A. Solar Variability of Possible Relevance for Planetary Climates. Space Sci Rev 125, 25–37 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-006-9044-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-006-9044-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation