Soft X‐ray irradiance measured by the Solar Aspect Monitor on the Solar Dynamic Observatory Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment

Abstract

AbstractThe Solar Aspect Monitor (SAM) is a pinhole camera on the Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory. SAM projects the solar disk onto the CCD through a metallic filter designed to allow only solar photons shortward of 7 nm to pass. Contamination from energetic particles and out‐of‐band irradiance is, however, significant in the SAM observations. We present a technique for isolating the 0.01–7 nm integrated irradiance from the SAM signal to produce the first results of broadband irradiance for the time period from May 2010 to May 2014. The results of this analysis agree with a similar data product from EVE's EUV SpectroPhotometer to within 25%. We compare our results with measurements from the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer Solar X‐ray Photometer and the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Solar EUV Experiment at similar levels of solar activity. We show that the full‐disk SAM broadband results compared well to the other measurements of the 0.01–7 nm irradiance. We also explore SAM's capability toward resolving spatial contribution from regions of solar disk in irradiance and demonstrate this feature with a case study of several strong flares that erupted from active regions on 11 March 2011.