A reevaluation of the solar constant based on a 42-year total solar irradiance time series and a reconciliation of spaceborne observations

A reevaluation of the solar constant is undertaken here to take into account the progress in space radiometry that has occurred since the early 2000s. Various sources of spaceborne total solar irradiance (TSI) observations are investigated here, including the long-term ACRIM and PMOD composites, as well as recent observations from the SORCE-TIM, TCTE-TIM, and PICARD-PREMOS instruments. A proxy model is constructed using daily data of sunspot number, radio flux at 10.7 cm, and MgII index, as predictors for TSI over the 42-year period 1976–2017. These daily estimates are used to fill in 9.7% of missing TSI observations during that period. By comparison with these proxy estimates, the PMOD composite appears generally more reliable than the ACRIM composite before 2003, and particularly before 1981. The 42-year time span is separated into nine periods, each defining the revised TSI daily values from one or more sources that are selected based on the trend of their resemblance with the proxy model. A final correction is added to emulate the highly accurate absolute calibration of PREMOS. Based on the resulting TSI reconstruction, a revised solar constant value of 1361.1 W/m2 is obtained, with a standard uncertainty of 0.5 W/m2. The revised solar constant is ≈5 W/m2 less than the previous values promulgated in ASTM and ISO standards. A revision of these standards is thus highly recommended.