Selecting the best solar EUV proxy for long-term timescale applications

Abstract

Solar EUV proxies are a solution to the difficulties in obtaining solar EUV time series covering extended periods or during times without measurements available. Despite being very similar at interannual and decadal timescales, proxies are not identical. The upper atmosphere, highly sensitive to this spectral range, can serve as a “witness” of solar EUV variations to help selecting the best proxy. Its choice can be critical depending on the problem we are trying to solve through the proxy implementation and on the nature of the proxies’ non-identical part variation. We analyze the best proxy selection process whose outcome depends on the method and on the physics knowledge we have of the system. This study aims to contribute and highlight certain critical aspects of selection methodologies. A case where this issue becomes critical is upper atmosphere long-term trends’ estimation in order to detect the increasing greenhouse gas effect along the last decades.