No abstract

Context. The variable Sun is the most likely candidate for the natural forcing of past climate changes on time scales of 50 to 1000 years. Evidence for this understanding is that the terrestrial climate correlates positively with the solar activity. During the past 10 000 years, the Sun has experienced the substantial variations in activity and there have been numerous attempts to reconstruct solar irradiance. While there is general agreement on how solar forcing varied during the last several hundred years -all reconstructions are proportional to the solar activity -there is scientific controversy on the magnitude of solar forcing. Aims. We present a reconstruction of the total and spectral solar irradiance covering 130 nm-10 μm from 1610 to the present with an annual resolution and for the Holocene with a 22-year resolution. Methods. We assume that the minimum state of the quiet Sun in time corresponds to the observed quietest area on the present Sun. Then we use available long-term proxies of the solar activity, which are 10 Be isotope concentrations in ice cores and 22-year smoothed neutron monitor data, to interpolate between the present quiet Sun and the minimum state of the quiet Sun. This determines the longterm trend in the solar variability, which is then superposed with the 11-year activity cycle calculated from the sunspot number. The time-dependent solar spectral irradiance from about 7000 BC to the present is then derived using a state-of-the-art radiation code. Results. We derive a total and spectral solar irradiance that was substantially lower during the Maunder minimum than the one observed today. The difference is remarkably larger than other estimations published in the recent literature. The magnitude of the solar UV variability, which indirectly affects the climate, is also found to exceed previous estimates. We discuss in detail the assumptions that lead us to this conclusion.

The lack of long and reliable time series of solar spectral irradiance (SSI) measurements makes an accurate quantification of solar contributions to recent climate change difficult. Whereas earlier SSI observations and models provided a qualitatively consistent picture of the SSI variability, recent measurements by the SORCE (SOlar Radiation and Climate Experiment) satellite suggest a significantly stronger variability in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral range and changes in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) bands in anti-phase with the solar cycle. A number of recent chemistry-climate model (CCM) simulations have shown that this might have significant implications on the Earth's atmosphere. Motivated by these results, we summarize here our current knowledge of SSI variability and its impact on Earth's climate.

We present a detailed overview of existing SSI measurements and provide thorough comparison of models available to date. SSI changes influence the Earth's atmosphere, both directly, through changes in shortwave (SW) heating and therefore, temperature and ozone distributions in the stratosphere, and indirectly, through dynamical feedbacks. We investigate these direct and indirect effects using several state-of-the art CCM simulations forced with measured and modelled SSI changes. A unique asset of this study is the use of a common comprehensive approach for an issue that is usually addressed separately by different communities.

We show that the SORCE measurements are difficult to reconcile with earlier observations and with SSI models. Of the five SSI models discussed here, specifically NRLSSI (Naval Research Laboratory Solar Spectral Irradiance), SATIRE-S (Spectral And Total Irradiance REconstructions for the Satellite era), COSI (COde for Solar Irradiance), SRPM (Solar Radiation Physical Modelling), and OAR (Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma), only one shows a behaviour of the UV and visible irradiance qualitatively resembling that of the recent SORCE measurements. However, the integral of the SSI computed with this model over the entire spectral range does not reproduce the measured cyclical changes of the total solar irradiance, which is an essential requisite for realistic evaluations of solar effects on the Earth's climate in CCMs.

We show that within the range provided by the recent SSI observations and semi-empirical models discussed here, the NRLSSI model and SORCE observations represent the lower and upper limits in the magnitude of the SSI solar cycle variation.

The results of the CCM simulations, forced with the SSI solar cycle variations estimated from the NRLSSI model and from SORCE measurements, show that the direct solar response in the stratosphere is larger for the SORCE than for the NRLSSI data. Correspondingly, larger UV forcing also leads to a larger surface response.

Finally, we discuss the reliability of the available data and we propose additional coordinated work, first to build composite SSI data sets out of scattered observations and to r...

In this brief communication we provide the rationale for, and the outcome of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) resolution vote at the XXIX th General Assembly in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2015, on recommended nominal conversion constants for selected solar and planetary properties. The problem addressed by the resolution is a lack of established conversion constants between solar and planetary values and SI units: a missing standard has caused a proliferation of solar values (e.g., solar radius, solar irradiance, solar luminosity, solar effective temperature and solar mass parameter) in the literature, with cited solar values typically based on best estimates at the time of paper writing. As precision of observations increases, a set of consistent values becomes increasingly important. To address this, an IAU Working Group on Nominal Units for Stellar and Planetary Astronomy formed in 2011, uniting experts from the solar, stellar, planetary, exoplanetary and fundamental astronomy, as well as from general standards fields to converge on optimal values for nominal conversion constants. The effort resulted in the IAU 2015 Resolution B3, passed at the IAU General Assembly by a large majority. The resolution recommends the use of nominal solar and planetary values, which are by definition exact and are expressed in SI units. These nominal values should be understood as conversion factors only, not as the true solar/planetary properties or current best estimates. Authors and journal editors are urged to join in using the standard values set forth by this resolution in future work and publications to help minimize further confusion.

ABSTRACT. We discuss the problem of assigning an effective temperature to models of stellar evolution in the Wolf-Rayet stage. We conclude that it is best to use models with different velocity laws depending on the stellar temperature. We follow the simplest approach and propose to use a standard law with ß= 1 for the cooler and ß=2 for the hotter Wolf-Rayet stars. We present energy distributions from non-LTE model calculations with a ß=2 velocity law. The new calculations, together with published results based on ß= 1, allow one to synthesize realistic spectra of starburst regions. The flux tables are available in digital form from the authors.

Context. The Sun and stars with low magnetic activity levels become photometrically brighter when their activity increases. Magnetically more active stars display the opposite behavior and become fainter when their activity increases. Aims. We reproduce the observed photometric trends in stellar variations with a model that treats stars as hypothetical suns with coverage by magnetic features different from that of the Sun. Methods. The model attributes the variability of stellar spectra to the imbalance between the contributions from different components of the solar atmosphere, such as dark starspots and bright faculae. A stellar spectrum is calculated from spectra of the individual components by weighting them with corresponding disk-area coverages. The latter are obtained by extrapolating the solar dependences of spot and facular disk-area coverages on chromospheric activity to stars with different levels of mean chromospheric activity. Results. We find that the contribution by starspots to the variability increases faster with chromospheric activity than the facular contribution. This causes the transition from faculae-dominated variability and direct activity-brightness correlation to spot-dominated variability and inverse activity-brightness correlation with increasing chromospheric activity level. We show that the regime of the variability also depends on the angle between the stellar rotation axis and the line-of-sight and on the latitudinal distribution of active regions on the stellar surface. Our model can be used as a tool for extrapolating the observed photometric variability of the Sun to Sun-like stars at different activity levels, which makes a direct comparison between solar and stellar irradiance data possible.

Abstract.We have extensively monitored the Luminous Blue Variable AG Car (HD 94910) spectroscopically. Our data cover the years 1989 to 1999. In this period, the star underwent almost a full S Dor cycle from visual minimum to maximum and back. Over several seasons, up to four months of almost daily spectra are available. Our data cover most of the visual spectral range with a high spectral resolution (λ/∆λ ≈ 20 000). This allows us to investigate the variability in many lines on time scales from days to years. The strongest variability occurs on a time scale of years. Qualitatively, the variations can be understood as changes of the effective temperature and radius, which are in phase with the optical light curve. Quantitatively, there are several interesting deviations from this behaviour, however. The Balmer lines show P Cygni profiles and have their maximum strength (both in equivalent width and line flux) after the peak of the optical light curve, at the descending branch of the light curve. The line-width during maximum phase is smaller than during minimum, but it has a local maximum close to the peak of the visual light curve. We derive mass-loss rates over the cycle from the Hα line and find the highest mass loss rates (logṀ /(M yr −1 ) ≈ −3.8, about a factor of five higher than in the minimum, where we find logṀ/(M yr −1 ) ≈ −4.5) after the visual maximum. Line-splitting is very commonly observed, especially on the rise to maximum and on the descending branch from maximum. The components are very long-lived (years) and are probably unrelated to similar-looking line-splitting events in normal supergiants. Small apparent accelerations of the components are observed. The change in radial velocity could be due to successive narrowing of the components, with the absorption disappearing at small expansion velocities first. In general, the linesplitting is more likely the result of missing absorption at intermediate velocities than of excess absorption at the velocities of the components. The Hei lines and other lines which form deep in the atmosphere show the most peculiar variations. The Hei lines show a central absorption with variable blue-and red-shifted emission components. Due to the variations of the emission components, the Hei lines can change their line profile from a normal P Cyg profile to an inverse P Cyg-profile or double-peak emission. In addition, very broad (±1500 km s −1 ) emission wings are seen at the strongest Hei lines of AG Car. At some phases, a blue-shifted absorption is also present. The central absorption of the Hei lines is blue-shifted before and red-shifted after maximum. Possibly, we directly see the expansion and contraction of the photosphere. If this explanation is correct, the velocity of the continuum-forming layer is not dominated by expansion but is only slightly oscillating around the systemic velocity.

Abstract. The pre-industrial millennium is among the periods selected by the Paleoclimate Model Intercompari-