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Full catalog/ACR3L2SC
ACR3L2SC·v1·dataset

Instrument shutter-cycle calibration data (ACRIM III)

ACRIM III Level 2 Shutter Cycle Data V001
heliosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2 HDF4
In plain English

What it measures. Measurements of total solar energy reaching the instrument, recorded as shutter cycles, which is the basic way this sensor tracks the Sun's brightness.

How it's made. Gathered by the ACRIM III instrument on the ACRIMSAT satellite at a mid-level (Level 2) processing stage.

How & where you'd use it. A specialized engineering and calibration input for building accurate records of the Sun's total energy output over time; not something general users work with directly.

What's measured

SUN-EARTH INTERACTIONS › SOLAR ACTIVITYATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › SOLAR IRRADIANCESUN-EARTH INTERACTIONS › SOLAR ACTIVITY › SOLAR IRRADIANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-04-05 → 2013-11-09
  • Measured byACRIMSAT (ACRIM)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • FormatsHDF4
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Monitor solar activity and space weather
  • Track flares, the solar wind and geomagnetic storms
Official description

ACR3L2SC_1 is the Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM) III Level 2 Shutter Cycle Data version 1 product contains Level 2 total solar irradiance in the form of shutter cycles gathered by the ACRIM instrument on the ACRIMSAT satellite.

Get the data

acr3l2sc_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ACR3L2SC",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LARC_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.