Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) on~the~Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO): Overview~of~Science Objectives, Instrument Design, Data~Products, and Model Developments

The highly variable solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation is the major energy input to the Earth\textquoterights upper atmosphere, strongly impacting the geospace environment, affecting satellite operations, communications, and navigation. The Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) onboard the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will measure the solar EUV irradiance from 0.1 to 105\ nm with unprecedented spectral resolution (0.1\ nm), temporal cadence (ten seconds), and accuracy (20\%). EVE includes several irradiance instruments: The Multiple EUV Grating Spectrographs (MEGS)-A is a grazing-incidence spectrograph that measures the solar EUV irradiance in the 5 to 37\ nm range with 0.1-nm resolution, and the MEGS-B is a normal-incidence, dual-pass spectrograph that measures the solar EUV irradiance in the 35 to 105\ nm range with 0.1-nm resolution. To provide MEGS in-flight calibration, the EUV SpectroPhotometer (ESP) measures the solar EUV irradiance in broadbands between 0.1 and 39\ nm, and a MEGS-Photometer measures the Sun\textquoterights bright hydrogen emission at 121.6\ nm. The EVE data products include a near real-time space-weather product (Level\ 0C), which provides the solar EUV irradiance in specific bands and also spectra in 0.1-nm intervals with a cadence of one minute and with a time delay of less than 15\ minutes. The EVE higher-level products are Level\ 2 with the solar EUV irradiance at higher time cadence (0.25\ seconds for photometers and ten seconds for spectrographs) and Level\ 3 with averages of the solar irradiance over a day and over each one-hour period. The EVE team also plans to advance existing models of solar EUV irradiance and to operationally use the EVE measurements in models of Earth\textquoterights ionosphere and thermosphere. Improved understanding of the evolution of solar flares and extending the various models to incorporate solar flare events are high priorities for the EVE team.