Improvements to the solar forcing data record

Two improvements are described regarding the total solar irradiance measurement record, which provides the net incoming energy driving the Earth’s climate system. The first is improved absolute accuracy, which reduces offsets between measurements, improves knowledge of the Earth’s radiative (im)balance, and helps make the data record more robust against potential future data gaps. The second improvement described is work by the instrument teams acquiring the measurements toward a better irradiance composite, achieved by analysis of instrument artifacts and estimating timedependent uncertainties. This composite will provide climate modelers an improved 34-year solar forcing record.