Validation of the effect of cross‐calibrated GOES solar proton effective energies on derived integral fluxes by comparison with STEREO observations

The derivation of integral fluxes from instrument coincidence rates requires accurate knowledge of their effective energies. Recent cross calibrations of GOES with the high‐energy‐resolution Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) 8 Goddard Medium Energy Experiment (GME) (Sandberg et al., Geophys. Res. Lett, 41, 4435, 2014a) gave significantly lower effective energies than those currently used by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center to calculate solar proton integral fluxes from GOES rates. This implies systematically lower integral fluxes than currently produced. This paper quantifies the differences between the current and the cross‐calibrated GOES integral fluxes and validates the latter. Care is taken to rule out the spectral resolution of the measurements or different integration algorithms as major contributors to differences in the magnitudes of the derived integral fluxes. The lower effective energies are validated by comparison with the independent, high‐resolution observations by the STEREO Low‐Energy Telescope (LET) and High‐Energy Telescope (HET) during the December 2006 solar proton events. The current GOES product is similar to the >10 MeV integral fluxes recalculated by using the Sandberg et al. [] effective energies but is substantially greater at higher energies. (The median ratios of the current to the recalculated fluxes are 1.1 at >10 MeV, 1.7 at >30 MeV, 2.1 at >60 MeV, and 2.9 at >100 MeV.) By virtue of this validation, the cross‐calibrated GOES integral fluxes should be considered more accurate than the current NOAA product. The results of this study also demonstrate good consistency between the two long‐term IMP 8 GME and STEREO LET and HET solar proton data sets. Key Points Integral fluxes derived from coarse spectra using correct effective energies are accurate GOES and STEREO spectra agree well during the December 2006 solar proton event Current GOES integral fluxes are too high by up to a factor of 3