Technical Article

High precision, high time-cadence measurements of the Mg II index of solar activity by the GOES-R Extreme Ultraviolet Irradiance Sensor 1: EUVS-C design and preflight calibration

¹ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
² South African National Space Agency (SANSA), Hospital Street, 7200 Hermanus, South Africa
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, 7535 Bellville, South Africa

^* Corresponding author: william.mcclintock@colorado.edu

Received: 25 September 2024
Accepted: 24 February 2025

Abstract

EUVS-C is one component of the Extreme Ultraviolet Irradiance Sensor (EUVS) instrument. EUVS, together with the X-Ray Sensor (XRS), comprise the Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiances Sensors (EXIS) investigation aboard the GOES-R satellite series, which includes GOES-16, -17, -18, and -19. From their vantage points in geostationary orbit, the EUVS-C instruments make high-precision (better than 1 part in 10⁴), high-time-cadence (3 s) measurements of the solar Mg II Index with moderate (0.1 nm) spectral resolution. The index, also referred to as the Mg II core-to-wing ratio, is a proxy for chromosphere activity that correlates with solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance. Mg II produces two bright chromosphere emission lines in the sun’s spectrum at 279.55 nm and 280.71 nm (Mg II k and h) that appear in the cores of their respective photospheric absorption lines. Measuring the ratio of emission from the core (chromospheric) to that from the wings (photospheric) provides an index that is relatively insensitive to changes in radiometric performance that often occur when scientific instruments observe the sun. EUVS-C design specifications were informed by earlier research reporting index variability of approximately 0.2% on time scales of 6–10 min, increasing to approximately 0.3% and approximately 0.55% for 30 and 80 min, respectively. This paper describes the EUVS-C instrument design and implementation, its ground calibration and characterization, and its anticipated measurement performance. A companion paper describes the initial EUVS-C flight measurement performance.