scostep 2010 (stp12) - Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik an der ...

STP12 Abstracts
Berlin, 12 - 16 July 2010
SCOSTEP Symposium 2010
Evolution of the total and spectral solar irradiance during the Holocene
Vieira Luis 1 , Solanki Sami 2 , Krivova Natalie 2
1 Lab. de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace, CNRS and University of Orleans,
France, 2 Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Germany
The Earth's coupled atmosphere-ocean system responds to the variability of the solar radiative
energy input, which is its main external heating source. However, there is still large
uncertainty on the level of changes because most of the reliable observations of geophysical
and solar parameters are limited to the last decades. During this period, changes of the
atmosphere's composition and of Earth's surface features due to human activity were already
disturbing the thermal structure of the atmosphere. Consequently, in order to quantify the
influence of solar variability on Earth's climate it is necessary to search for its influence in the
time prior to the increase of human activity. Here we present a reconstruction of the total and
spectral solar irradiance during the Holocene employing a simple, but consistent physical
model. The model was derived from the spectral and total irradiance reconstruction (SATIRE)
models employed to study the solar irradiance on time scales from days to centuries. The
model uses the solar open flux, which can be computed using physics-based models from the
cosmogenic isotopes recorded in natural archives, as the input parameter. The reconstruction
and its implications are discussed.