Let’s say this is the equivalent of the sun’s total energy output.
You can accumulate a hundred dollars a lot of different ways…
But a hundred bucks…
…is a hundred bucks!
If energy from the sun were a hundred dollars,
it would be important to know what kinds of currency was coming in—
big groups of pennies …
…whole dollar bills…
…or combinations.
The total amount of solar energy falling on Earth
generally doesn’t vary more than about 1 dime to $100
but the kinds of energy from the Sun can fluctuate.
Remember that light we see with our eyes
is actually a combination of many different colors, or wavelengths.
That’s true also for the light we do NOT see.
The composition of that light matters to understanding Earth’s energy budget,
and that’s the reason NASA has a new instrument designed to study this question.
It’s called TSIS—
—the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor.
It is important to know that the Sun supplies
virtually all of the energy coming to Earth.
But...inbetween the Earth and the Sun
there is the atmosphere.
In the atmosphere there are clouds, there are aerosols--
that is particles--there are gasses
that interefere with solar radiation reaching Earth.
So, that's why we need to fly a satellite....
to be above the atmosphere
Mounted to the International Space Station,
TSIS will collect detailed assessments of solar energy.
Those data will be vital for scientists
to make more accurate forecasts about climate change
and other interactions between our planet and our parent star.