Variations in the Sun's radiative output

By how much does the Sun's radiation vary? Although the Sun has long been an object of immense fascination, fundamental information about the magnitude and variability of its radiative output, sought for over a century, is only now approaching a level satisfactory for geophysical applications. During the past decade, satellite instruments have measured, simultaneously, both the Sun's spectrally integrated radiative output and its ultraviolet spectrum. These data have been analyzed in terms of their relationships to ground-based observations that characterize different aspects of the Sun's 11-year activity cycle, allowing estimates of solar radiative output variations over times scales from days to decades and interpretations of these variations in the broader context of the variable Sun. Uncertainties still remain to be answered by the next generation of solar radiometers, which commenced observations with the launch of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite in September 1991, near the maximum of solar cycle 22.