The Mg II Index from SORCE

The Solar-Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE) and the Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM) on the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) both measure the solar ultraviolet irradiance surrounding the Mg II doublet at 280 nm on a daily basis. The SIM instrument’s resolution (1.1 nm) is similar to the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet instruments used to compute the standard NOAA Mg II index, while SOLSTICE’s resolution is an order of magnitude higher (0.1 nm). This paper describes the technique used to calculate the index for both instruments and compares the resulting time series for the first 18 months of the SORCE mission. The spectral resolution and low noise of the SOLSTICE spectrum produces a Mg II index with a precision of 0.6%, roughly a factor of 2 better than the low-resolution index measurement. The full-resolution SOLSTICE index is able to measure short-timescale changes in the solar radiative output that are lost in the noise of the low-resolution index.