太阳磁场方向变化对于地球大气温度异常变化的意义

本文根据苏黎世天文台太阳黑子11年周期资料和太阳黑子磁场磁性变化周期特征，构建了太阳黑子磁场磁性指数MI(Magnetic Index)时间序列.分析表明：太阳活动磁性周期平均长度为222年，但是每个周期长度是不相等的；多数情况周期短时磁性指数较大，对应太阳活动水平强；周期变长时磁性指数较小，对应太阳活动水平较弱；太阳黑子磁场磁性指数序列也具有80～90年的世纪周期. 进一步研究指出，太阳黑子磁场磁性指数曲线由极小值升至极大值时期，太阳磁场南向，行星际磁场磁力线与地磁场磁力线重联，此时磁层为开磁层，太阳风将携带大量等离子体从向阳面进入地球磁层，从而使输入的动量、能量和物质大幅度增加，与北半球对流层增温时期对应；太阳黑子磁场磁性指数曲线由极大值下降至极小值时期，太阳磁场北向，与磁层顶地磁场同向，行星际磁场不会与地磁场发生重联，此时磁层为闭磁层，这种情况下，只有少数带电粒子能够穿越磁力线进入地球磁层，与北半球对流层降温时期对应.     

Diurnal and seasonal occurrence of polar patches

Analysis of the diurnal and seasonal variation of polar patches, as identified in two years of HF-radar data from Halley, Antarctica during a period near sunspot maximum, shows that there is a broad maximum in occurrence centred about magnetic noon, not local noon. There are minima in occurrence near midsummer and midwinter, with maxima in occurrence between equinox and winter. There are no significant correlations between the occurrence of polar patches and the corresponding hourly averages of the solar wind and IMF parameters, except that patches usually occur when the interplanetary magnetic field has a southward component. The results can be understood in terms of UT and seasonal differences in the plasma concentration being convected from the dayside ionosphere into the polar cap. In summer and winter the electron concentrations in the polar cap are high and low, respectively, but relatively unstructured. About equinox, a tongue of enhanced ionisation is convected into the polar cap; this tongue is then structured by the effects of the interplanetary magnetic field, but these Halley data cannot be used to separate the various competing mechanisms for patch formation. The observed diurnal and seasonal variation in the occurrence of polar patches are largely consistent with predictions of Sojka et al. (1994) when their results are translated into the southern hemisphere. However, the ionospheric effects of flux transfer events are still considered essential in their formation, a feature not yet included in the Sojka et al. model.     

What is the cause of the accelerated drift of the north magnetic pole: Jerk or reversal?

For the last 20–30 years, the drift velocity of the north magnetic pole (NMP) has increased by a factor of almost 5. It is unclear whether this is the cyclic process, according to which NMP twice changed the direction of its drift (in 1580 and 1860) and should turn once again in approximately 2140, or this acceleration is related to the effect of jerk-69, or the NMP acceleration shows the beginning of geomagnetic field reversal. Both magnetic poles have been drifting poleward (toward each other) beginning from 1860: NMP, in the Western Hemisphere; south magnetic pole (SMP), in the Eastern Hemisphere. Both poles move along the paths typical of the motion of virtual magnetic poles during reversal. The velocity of SMP drift during the period of instrumental measurements slightly decreased: from 8 km/yr at the initial stage to 4 km/yr at the present. A possible cause of NMP drift acceleration and SMP drift deceleration is discussed. It has been indicated that the NMP position can be estimated based on a change in the geomagnetic field horizontal components registered at the nearest observatories. Measurements of the NMP position, which can be performed during the next three-five years, can make it possible to answer the question whether NMP continue accelerating or starts decelerating. It is discussed whether NMP acceleration and an increase in the jerk occurrence frequency are interrelated and whether these facts points to the beginning of reversal.     

Special points in 11-year variations in the latitudinal characteristics of sunspot activity

It has been indicated that special moments (turning points), when certain characteristics of the latitudinal (equatorward) drift of the sunspot drift zone suddenly change, exist in each 11-year solar cycle. The moment when a sunspot formation low-latitude boundary minimum (T2), coordinated in time with the end of a polar magnetic field polarity reversal, exists has a special place among these points. A conclusion has been drawn that it is impossible to reconstruct polarity reversal moments in the past based on information about turning points T2. The average velocities of the latitudinal drift of the minimal, average, and maximal sunspot group latitudes have been calculated. It has been indicated that the closeness of the relationship between the first two velocities and the maximal activity amplitudes in the cycles differ substantially for the first (before point T2) and second (after point T2) cycle parts. The corresponding values of the correlation coefficients increase substantially in the second cycle (after point T2). It has been established that a relationship exists between some velocities calculated in these cycles and the activity amplitudes at maximums of the next cycles. A model for predicting future cycle maximums has been constructed based on this conclusion. The probable average annual Wolf number at a maximum of cycle 24 has been determined (W(24) = 93).     

Active longitudes of sunspots

The inhomogeneity of the sunspot group longitude distribution has been determined depending on the rotation period used to determine a longitude. The statistical significance of the found active longitudes has been estimated. It has been indicated that a rather high reliability is reached only when the synodic rotation period is close to 27 and 28 days. In this case active longitudes show the long-term variation related to the north-south asymmetry of the sunspot formation. It is assumed that active longitudes are related to the relic magnetic field frozen in a uniformly rotating solar radiative zone.     

Features of Slow Sunspot Dissipation

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - According to a model of sunspot dissipation through a thin boundary layer between the sunspot magnetic flux tube and the surrounding medium, the rate of decrease in the...     

太阳黑子磁场极性指数时间序列

本文根据苏黎世天文台太阳黑子11年周期资料和太阳黑子磁场磁性变化周期特征,构建了太阳黑子磁场磁性指数IM(Magnetic Index)时间序列,用IM(i)表示.为了便于采用数学方法研究太阳黑子磁场磁性指数变化与诸多地球物理现象之间的联系,本文给出了1749～2007年月平均太阳黑子磁场磁性指数时间序列数据.     

Solar Forcing of Climate

Solar activity is evident both in the equatorial activity centres and in the polar magnetic field variations. The total solar irradiance variation is due to the former component. During the extraordinarily long minimum of activity between sunspot cycles 23 and 24, the variations related to the equatorial field components reached their minimum values in the first half of 2008, while those related to the polar field variations had their extreme values rather at the end of 2009 and the first half of 2010. The explanation of this delay is another challenge for dynamo theories. The role of the open solar flux has so far been grossly underestimated in discussions of Sun-climate relations. The gradual increase in the average terrestrial ground temperature since 1610 is related both to the equatorial and polar field variations. The main component (0.077?K/century) is due to the variation of the total solar irradiance. The second component (0.040?K/century) waits for an explanation. The smoothed residual increase, presumably antropogenic, obtained after subtraction of the known components from the total increase was 0.31?K in 1999.     

Studying local sources in the radio range based on the partial solar eclipse of January 4, 2011, at the Mountain Astronomical Station, Central Astronomical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences

Data are presented on a partial solar eclipse, which occurred on January 4, 2011, and was observed with RT-3 (?? = 4.9 cm) and RT-2 (?? = 3.2 cm) radio telescopes at the Mountain Astronomical Station, Central Astronomical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences (MAS CAO RAS). The radioemission flux in two channels was registered using digital methods with a time resolution of 0.5 s. Comparisons were performed with observations in the optical, UV, and X-ray ranges. The following local sources of increased radioemission on the solar disk have been identified: sunspot groups 1 (NOAA 1142) and 126 (NOAA 1141), unipolar sunspot 127 (NOAA 1140), facula areas, and polar and midlatitude coronal holes. It has been indicated that the brightness of a unipolar sunspot (for ?? = 4.9 cm, I _rel = 29.5; for ?? = 3.2 cm, I _rel = 10.1) and two sunspot groups (for ?? = 4.9 cm, I _rel = 10.1 and 14.2; for ?? = 3.2 cm, I _rel = 5.1 and 6.2) is maximal. The radioemission flux of all found coronal holes is decreased, and the decrease is more contrasting in the 4.9-cm range as compared to such a decrease in the 3.2-cm range. Radio maps of the Sun and changes in the radioemission flux of undisturbed solar regions from the center to the limb for ?? = 4.9 and 3.2 cm have been constructed based on the eclipse data.     

Spatiotemporal sunspot impulses and reversal of the polar magnetic field on the sun

The spatiotemporal organization of sunspots in the form of activity impulses (according to Gnevyshev’s terminology) is considered as a source of poleward magnetic surges of new polarity. Polar fields in the northern and southern hemispheres have been reconstructed from 1875 to 2012. An increase in the tilt angle of magnetic bipoles with latitude is a crucial parameter in the proposed model to reverse the polar field on the Sun. The role of the surface meridional flow forming magnetic surges of new and old polarities is discussed. It is shown that the velocity and the latitudinal profile of the flow influence the modeled polar field.     

Variations in the large-scale polar solar magnetic flux: The average annual series of the Π index in 1858–2006

A long series of the known Π index of the solar corona structure has been proposed. It seems that this index, which characterizes the limb extension of polar coronal plume systems, is of importance because it is related to the large-scale polar solar magnetic flux. Solar corona photographs and drawings during total solar eclipses, collected for 13 solar activity cycles from different sources (78 eclipses), as well as H-alpha map data on the drift of the high-latitude belt of filaments before polarity reversal of the polar magnetic field have been used. Daily solar corona images, obtained on the SOHO spacecraft (using an EIT ultraviolet telescope), have been additionally used.     

Synchronism of long-period oscillations of the magnetic field in sunspots

It is shown that long-period (T = 10?C20 h) oscillations of the magnetic field in sunspots, combined in bipolar groups, are excited synchronously in the main and tail spots of a group. At the same time, there is no correlation between long-period oscillations of the field of sunspots which are in different active regions, i.e., spaced sunspots oscillate independently. This fact eliminates the question about the apparatus nature of the oscillations of interest (if there is an artifact, oscillations of all sunspots on the visible solar hemisphere would be synchronous!). High-resolution (0.5 angular seconds per pixel) MDI(SOHO) data show a high correlation between long-period oscillations of the magnetic field at isolated points of the sunspot shadow. This points to the fact that the sunspot shadow participates in long-period oscillations as a quite integral physical formation.     

Dynamic Characteristics of Area Variations of Small and Large Sunspots and Quasi-Biennial Oscillations in Solar Activity

The spatiotemporal and chaotic dynamics of variations in area of sunspot groups related conventionally to small (area <50 Msh) and large (area >50 Msh) populations is analyzed. The Greenwich Observatory–Marshall Space Flight Center data were used. The results show that both sunspot populations have a single initial source, which is a magnetic flux generated by the dynamo process (presumably at the bottom of the convective zone) and is responsible for the 11—22-year periodicity of solar activity. A possible explanation of the revealed different behavior of the considered populations is that the magnetic flux is partially involved in another process responsible for the shaping of primarily very large sunspot groups. This process develops presumably in the upper layer of the convective zone with an unstable amplitude and a period varying within 1–2 years. The analysis of power spectrum of the Wolf number time series has indicated the difference between dynamic characteristics of the two studied processes.     

The response of ionospheric convection in the polar cap to substorm activity

We report multi-instrument observations during an isolated substorm on 17 October 1989. The EISCAT radar operated in the SP-UK-POLI mode measuring ionospheric convection at latitudes 71°-78°. SAMNET and the EISCAT Magnetometer Cross provide information on the timing of substorm expansion phase onset and subsequent intensifications, as well as the location of the field aligned and ionospheric currents associated with the substorm current wedge. IMP-8 magnetic field data are also included. Evidence of a substorm growth phase is provided by the equatorward motion of a flow reversal boundary across the EISCAT radar field of view at 2130 MLT, following a southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We infer that the polar cap expanded as a result of the addition of open magnetic flux to the tail lobes during this interval. The flow reversal boundary, which is a lower limit to the polar cap boundary, reached an invariant latitude equatorward of 71° by the time of the expansion phase onset. A westward electrojet, centred at 65.4°, occurred at the onset of the expansion phase. This electrojet subsequently moved poleward to a maximum of 68.1° at 2000 UT and also widened. During the expansion phase, there is evidence of bursts of plasma flow which are spatially localised at longitudes within the substorm current wedge and which occurred well poleward of the westward electrojet. We conclude that the substorm onset region in the ionosphere, defined by the westward electrojet, mapped to a part of the tail radially earthward of the boundary between open and closed magnetic flux, the “distant” neutral line. Thus the substorm was not initiated at the distant neutral line, although there is evidence that it remained active during the expansion phase. It is not obvious whether the electrojet mapped to a near-Earth neutral line, but at its most poleward, the expanded electrojet does not reach the estimated latitude of the polar cap boundary.     

Magnetic flux evolution inside and outside a polar coronal hole based on data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

This paper presents the analysis results of the magnetic flux inside and outside a polar coronal hole in the north during the period August 1?C2, 2010. The location of the polar coronal hole is determined from Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) images in the Fe XII, XXIV (193 ?) line, obtained by an Atmospheric Imager Assembly (AIA) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Magnetic data are represented by the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field strength, measured with an Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Both data sets are sampled at an interval of 720 s and are remapped onto a Carrington coordinate grid with a resolution of 0.001 in sine latitude and 0.1 degree in longitude. The preliminary results show a magnetic flux of the new cycle??s polarity (positive polarity in the north) appearing inside the coronal hole on a time scale of several hours. This ??new flux?? does not correlate with the magnetic flux of the old solar cycle (negative polarity in the north).     

Paleomagnetic reconstruction of the global geomagnetic field evolution during the Matuyama/Brunhes transition: Iterative Bayesian inversion and independent verification

The Earth's magnetic field changed its polarity from the last reversed into today's normal state approximately 780 000 years ago. While before and after this so called Matuyama/Brunhes reversal, the Earth magnetic field was essentially an axial dipole, the details of its transitional structure are still largely unknown. Here, a Bayesian inversion method is developed to reconstruct the spherical harmonic expansion of this transitional field from paleomagnetic data. This is achieved by minimizing the total variational power at the core–mantle boundary during the transition under paleomagnetic constraints. The validity of the inversion technique is proved in two ways. First by inverting synthetic data sets from a modeled reversal. Here it is possible to reliably reconstruct the Gauss coefficients even from noisy records. Second by iteratively combining four geographically distributed high quality paleomagnetic records of the Matuyama/Brunhes reversal into a single geometric reversal scenario without assuming an a priori common age model. The obtained spatio-temporal reversal scenario successfully predicts most independent Matuyama/Brunhes transitional records. Therefore, the obtained global reconstruction based on paleomagnetic data invites to compare the inferred transitional field structure with results from numerical geodynamo models regarding the morphology of the transitional field. It is found that radial magnetic flux patches form at the equator and move polewards during the transition. Our model indicates an increase of non-dipolar energy prior to the last reversal and a non-dipolar dominance during the transition. Thus, the character and information of surface geomagnetic field records is strongly site dependent. The reconstruction also offers new answers to the question of existence of preferred longitudinal bands during the transition and to the problem of reversal duration. Different types of directional variations of the surface geomagnetic field, continuous or abrupt, are found during the transition. Two preferred longitudinal bands along the Americas and East Asia are not predicted for uniformly distributed sampling locations on the globe. Similar to geodynamo models with CMB heatflux derived from present day lower mantle heterogeneities, a preference of transitional VGPs for the Pacific hemisphere is found. The paleomagnetic duration of reversals shows not only a latitudinal, but also a longitudinal variation. Even the paleomagnetically determined age of the reversal varies significantly between different sites on the globe. The described Bayesian inversion technique can easily be applied to other high quality full vector reversal records. Also its extension to inversion of secular variation and excursion data is straightforward.     

Meridional eddy flux of enthalpy in the Southern Hemisphere during the IGY

Summary From meteorological IGY data for the calendar year 1958, the mean meridional eddy transport of enthalpy was evaluated for the Southern Hemisphere. Levels chosen for the study were 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 200, 150 and 100 mb. Data from 84 Southern Hemisphere and 25 equatorial Northern Hemisphere stations were used. Yearly mean quantities related to meridional eddy enthalpy flux were computed and analyzed.It was found that around 40° S there is a double-maximum zone of poleward, meridional, transient eddy enthalpy flux, the stronger transport occurring at 850 mb, and the weaker near 200 mb. The countergradient transient eddy flux regions in the low latitude mid-troposphere and in the middle and upper latitude lower stratosphere, found in previous Northern Hemisphere investigations, were observed to exist in the Southern Hemisphere also. The standing eddy heat transport, as expected, was very weak except at high latitudes where Antarctic continentality effected a large double-maximum poleward flux centered near the surface and in the lower stratosphere. The total vertically integrated enthalpy transport by the eddies was found to be poleward everywhere, reaching a maximum between 35° and 40° S.     

Variations in the polar cap area during intervals of substorm activity on 20–21 March 1990 deduced from AMIE convection patterns

The dynamic behaviour of the northern polar cap area is studied employing Northern Hemisphere electric potential patterns derived by the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) procedure. The rate of change in area of the polar cap, which can be defined as the region of magnetospheric field lines open to the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), has been calculated during two intervals when the IMF had an approximately constant southward component (1100- 2200 UT, 20 March 1990 and 1300–2100 UT, 21 March 1990). The estimates of the polar cap area are based on the approximation of the polar cap boundary by the flow reversal boundary. The change in the polar cap area is then compared to the predicted expansion rate based on a simple application of Faraday’s Law. Furthermore, timings of magnetospheric substorms are also related to changes in the polar cap area. Once the convection electric field reconfigures following a southward turning of the IMF, the growth rate of the observed polar cap boundary is consistent with that predicted by Faraday’s Law. A delay of typically 20 min to 50 min is observed between a substorm expansion phase onset and a reduction in the polar cap area. Such a delay is consistent with a synthesis between the near Earth neutral line and current disruption models of magnetospheric substorms in which the dipolarisation in the magnetotail may act as a trigger for reconnection. These delays may represent a propagation time between near geosynchronous orbit dipolarisation and subsequent reconnection further down tail. We estimate, from these delays, that the neutral X line occurs between \sim35R_E and \sim75R_E downstream in the tail.     

Magnetic field variations and spatial configurations of long-period sunspot oscillations according to the SOHO data

The phenomenon of long-period sunspot oscillations with periods from several tens to a thousand minutes is studied using data on the magnetic field strength and sunspot coordinates obtained based on the SOHO MDI data. It has been indicated that oscillations of the sunspot magnetic field strength are related to relative and absolute horizontal oscillation modes, as a result of which certain limitations are imposed on the interpretation of the phenomenon.     

Long-term variations of solar magnetic fields derived from geomagnetic data

There are limited homogeneous instrumental observations of the sunspot magnetic fields, but the Earth is a sort of a probe reacting to interplanetary disturbances which are manifestation of the solar magnetic fields. We find correlations between some parameters of geomagnetic activity (the geomagnetic activity “floor”—the minimum value under which the geomagnetic activity cannot fall in a sunspot cycle, and the rate of increase of the geomagnetic activity with increasing sunspot number), and sunspot magnetic fields (the sunspot magnetic field in the cycle minimum, and the rate of increase of the sunspot magnetic field from cycle minimum to cycle maximum). Based on these correlations we are able to reconstruct the sunspot magnetic fields in sunspot minima and maxima since sunspot cycle 9 (mid 19th century).