Thesolar constant (GSC) measures the amount of energy received by a given area one astronomical unit away from theSun. More specifically, it is aflux density measuring mean solarelectromagnetic radiation (total solar irradiance) per unit area. It is measured on a surface perpendicular to the rays, oneastronomical unit (au) from the Sun (roughly the distance from the Sun to the Earth).
The solar constant includes radiation over the entireelectromagnetic spectrum. It is measured by satellite as being 1.361kilowatts per square meter (kW/m2) atsolar minimum (the time in the 11-yearsolar cycle when the number ofsunspots is minimal) and approximately 0.1% greater (roughly 1.362 kW/m2) atsolar maximum.[1]
The solar "constant" is not aphysical constant in the modernCODATA scientific sense; that is, it is not like thePlanck constant or thespeed of light which are absolutely constant in physics. The solar constant is an average of a varying value. In the past 400 years it has varied less than 0.2 percent.[2] Billions of years ago, it wassignificantly lower.
This constant is used in the calculation ofradiation pressure, which aids in the calculation of a force on asolar sail.
Solar irradiance is measured by satellites aboveEarth's atmosphere,[3] and is then adjusted using theinverse square law to infer the magnitude of solar irradiance at oneAstronomical Unit (au) to evaluate the solar constant.[4] The approximate average value cited,[1] 1.3608 ± 0.0005 kW/m2, which is 81.65 kJ/m2 per minute, is equivalent to approximately 1.951 calories per minute per square centimeter, or 1.951langleys per minute.
Solar output is nearly, but not quite, constant. Variations intotal solar irradiance (TSI) were small and difficult to detect accurately with technology available before the satellite era (±2% in 1954). Total solar output is now measured as varying (over the last three 11-yearsunspot cycles) by approximately 0.1%;[5] seesolar variation for details.
Therefore:
Where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant (≈5.67×10−8 W⋅m−2⋅K−4) and f is the irradiance of the star at the extrasolar planet at distance d.
In 1838,Claude Pouillet made the first estimate of the solar constant. Using a very simplepyrheliometer he developed, he obtained a value of 1.228 kW/m2,[6] close to the current estimate.
In 1875,Jules Violle resumed the work of Pouillet and offered a somewhat larger estimate of 1.7 kW/m2 based, in part, on a measurement that he made fromMont Blanc in France.
In 1884,Samuel Pierpont Langley attempted to estimate the solar constant fromMount Whitney in California. By taking readings at different times of day, he tried to correct for effects due to atmospheric absorption. However, the final value he proposed, 2.903 kW/m2, was much too large.
Between 1902 and 1957, measurements byCharles Greeley Abbot and others at various high-altitude sites found values between 1.322 and 1.465 kW/m2. Abbot showed that one of Langley's corrections was erroneously applied. Abbot's results varied between 1.89 and 2.22 calories (1.318 to 1.548 kW/m2), a variation that appeared to be due to the Sun and not the Earth's atmosphere.[7]
In 1954 the solar constant was evaluated as 2.00 cal/min/cm2 ± 2%.[8] Current results are about 2.5 percent lower.
The actual direct solar irradiance at the top of the atmosphere fluctuates by about 6.9% during a year (from 1.412 kW/m2 in early January to 1.321 kW/m2 in early July) due to the Earth's varying distance from the Sun, and typically by much less than 0.1% from day to day. Thus, for the wholeEarth (which has across section of 127,400,000 km2), the power is 1.730×1017 W (or 173,000terawatts),[9] plus or minus 3.5% (half the approximately 6.9% annual range). The solar constant does not remain constant over long periods of time (seeSolar variation), but over a year the solar constant varies much less than the solar irradiance measured at the top of the atmosphere. This is because the solar constant is evaluated at a fixed distance of 1astronomical unit (au) while the solar irradiance will be affected by theeccentricity of the Earth's orbit. Its distance to the Sun varies annually between 147.1·106 km atperihelion and 152.1·106 km ataphelion. In addition, several long term (tens to hundreds of millennia) cycles of subtle variation in the Earth's orbit (Milankovich cycles) affect the solar irradiance and insolation (but not the solar constant).
The Earth receives a total amount of radiation determined by its cross section (π·RE2), but as it rotates this energy is distributed across the entiresurface area (4·π·RE2). Hence the average incoming solar radiation, taking into account the angle at which the rays strike and that at any one moment half the planet does not receive any solar radiation, is one-fourth the solar constant (approximately 340 W/m2). The amount reaching the Earth's surface (asinsolation) is further reduced by atmospheric attenuation, which varies. At any given moment, the amount of solar radiation received at a location on the Earth's surface depends on the state of the atmosphere, the location'slatitude, and the time of day.
The solar constant includes all wavelengths of solar electromagnetic radiation, not just thevisible light (seeElectromagnetic spectrum). It is positively correlated with theapparent magnitude of the Sun which is −26.8. The solar constant and the magnitude of the Sun are two methods of describing the apparent brightness of the Sun, though the magnitude is based on the Sun's visual output only.
Theangular diameter of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/11,700radians (about 18arcseconds), meaning thesolid angle of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/175,000,000 of asteradian. Thus the Sun emits about 2.2 billion times the amount of radiation that is caught by Earth, in other words about 3.846×1026 watts.
Space-based observations of solar irradiance started in 1978. These measurements show that the solar constant is not constant. It varies with the 11-year sunspotsolar cycle.When going further back in time, one has to rely on irradiance reconstructions, using sunspots for the past 400 years or cosmogenic radionuclides for going back 10,000 years.Such reconstructions show that solar irradiance varies with distinct periodicities. These cycles are: 11 years (Schwabe), 88 years (Gleisberg cycle), 208 years (DeVries cycle) and 1,000 years (Eddy cycle).[10][11][12][13][14]
Over billions of years, the Sun is gradually expanding, and emitting more energy from the resultant larger surface area. The unsolved question of how to account for the clear geological evidence of liquid water on the Earth billions of years ago, at a time when the sun's luminosity was only 70% of its current value, is known as thefaint young Sun paradox.
At most about 75% of the solar energy actually reaches the earth's surface,[15] as even with a cloudless sky it is partially reflected and absorbed by the atmosphere. Even light cirrus clouds reduce this to 50%, stronger cirrus clouds to 40%. Thus the solar energy arriving at the surface with the sun directly overhead can vary from 550 W/m2 with cirrus clouds to 1025 W/m2 with a clear sky.
The solar constant is used inexoplanetology as a customary unit ofirradiance ofexoplanets as the direct comparison to the Earth is easy to grasp. In order to standardize the conversion into theSI units, theIAU 2015 Resolution B3 prescribes usage of nominal values of several solar and planetary quantities, including the value of the nominal total solar irradiance, which it defines as exactly1361 W⋅m-2.[16] This value is independent of the actual value of the total solar irradiance, which varies with the solar cycle.
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Sampson, Ralph Allen (1911). "Sun". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 87.
