Instrument Description: The Total Solar Irradiance Monitor on the FY-3C Satellite, an Instrument with a Pointing System

Abstract

The Total Solar Irradiance Monitor (TSIM) onboard the nadir Feng Yun-3C (FY-3C) satellite provides measurements of the total solar irradiance with accurate solar tracking and sound thermal stability of its heat sink. TSIM/FY-3C mainly consists of the pointing system, the radiometer package, the thermal control system, and the electronics. Accurate solar tracking is achieved by the pointing system, which greatly improves the science data quality when compared with the previous TSIM/FY-3A and TSIM/FY-3B. The total solar irradiance (TSI) is recorded by TSIM/FY-3C about 26 times each day, using a two-channel radiometer package. One channel is used to perform routine observation, and the other channel is used to monitor the degradation of the cavity detector in the routine channel. From the results of the ground test, the incoming irradiance is measured by the routine channel (AR1) with a relative uncertainty of 592 ppm. A general description of the TSIM, including the instrument modules, uncertainty evaluation, and its operation, is given in this article.