Evolution of the solar irradiance during the Holocene

Abstract

Aims. We present a physically consistent reconstruction of the total solar irradiance for the Holocene. Methods. We extend the SATIRE models to estimate the evolution of the total (and partly spectral) solar irradiance over the Holocene. The basic assumption is that the variations of the solar irradiance are due to the evolution of the dark and bright magnetic features on the solar surface. The evolution of the decadally averaged magnetic flux is computed from decadal values of cosmogenic isotope concentrations recorded in natural archives employing a series of physics-based models connecting the processes from the modulation of the cosmic ray flux in the heliosphere to their record in natural archives. We then compute the total solar irradiance (TSI) as a linear combination of the jth and jth + 1 decadal values of the open magnetic flux. Results. Reconstructions of the TSI over the Holocene, each valid for a di_erent paleomagnetic time series, are presented. Our analysis suggests that major sources of uncertainty in the TSI in this model are the heritage of the uncertainty of the TSI since 1610 reconstructed from sunspot data and the uncertainty of the evolution of the Earth's magnetic dipole moment. The analysis of the distribution functions of the reconstructed irradiance for the last 3000 years indicates that the estimates based on the virtual axial dipole moment are significantly lower at earlier times than the reconstructions based on the virtual dipole moment. Conclusions. We present the first physics-based reconstruction of the total solar irradiance over the Holocene, which will be of interest for studies of climate change over the last 11500 years. The reconstruction indicates that the decadally averaged total solar irradiance ranges over approximately 1.5 W/m2 from grand maxima to grand minima.

References in corpus (6)

• Grand minima and maxima of solar activity: New observational constraints
• A Millennium Scale Sunspot Number Reconstruction: Evidence For an Unusually Active Sun Since the 1940's
• A homogeneous database of sunspot areas covering more than 130 years
• Evolution of the solar magnetic flux on time scales of years to millenia
• Reconstruction of solar activity for the last millennium using ${}^{10}$Be data
• Reconstruction of solar UV irradiance since 1974

Cited by in corpus (34)

• Revisiting the Sunspot Number
• Solar Irradiance Variability and Climate
• Recent variability of the solar spectral irradiance and its impact on climate modelling
• The Maunder minimum (1645--1715) was indeed a Grand minimum: A reassessment of multiple datasets
• Reconstruction of total and spectral solar irradiance from 1974 to 2013 based on KPVT, SoHO/MDI and SDO/HMI observations
• Magnitudes and Timescales of Total Solar Irradiance Variability
• A History of Solar Activity over Millennia
• Solar total and spectral irradiance reconstruction over the last 9000 years
• Solar activity over nine millennia: A consistent multi-proxy reconstruction
• The Impact of the Revised Sunspot Record on Solar Irradiance Reconstructions
• Intensity contrast of solar network and faculae
• Discussion on climate oscillations: CMIP5 general circulation models versus a semi empirical harmonic model based on astronomical cycles
• Revised historical solar irradiance forcing
• How much has the Sun influenced Northern Hemisphere temperature trends? An ongoing debate
• Analysis of full disc Ca II K spectroheliograms. II. Towards an accurate assessment of long-term variations in plage areas
• Analysis of full disc Ca II K spectroheliograms. I. Photometric calibration and CLV compensation
• Solar Irradiance Variability
• Modelling solar irradiance from ground-based photometric observations
• Modelling the evolution of the Sun's open and total magnetic flux
• The Solar Corona during the Total Eclipse on 16 June 1806: Graphical Evidence of the Coronal Structure during the Dalton Minimum
• Solar Ring Mission: Building a Panorama of the Sun and Inner-heliosphere
• A solar super-flare as cause for the 14C variation in AD 774/5 ?
• Triskels and Symmetries of Mean Global Sea-Level Pressure
• The place of the Sun among the Sun-like stars
• Eclipses observed by LYRA - a sensitive tool to test the models for the solar irradiance
• A Note on Solar Cycle Length during the Medieval Climate Anomaly
• Coronal electron density, temperature and solar spectral irradiance during the solar cycle 23 and 24
• Method of frequency dependent correlations: investigating the variability of total solar irradiance
• Short-term forecast of the total and spectral solar irradiance
• Variability of the Sun's luminosity places constraints on the thermal equilibrium of the convection zone
• Reconstruction of annual solar irradiance over the last three millennia
• Analysis and modeling of solar irradiance variations
• Oscillations of the baseline of solar magnetic field and solar irradiance on a millennial timescale
• Solar activity, solar irradiance and terrestrial temperature