Facular excess radiation and the energy balance of solar active regions

Plage areas and intensities derived from CaII K spectroheliograms are used as a proxy for the facular irradiance excess of solar active regions for the period 19 August to 4 September 1980. Using a calibration method proposed by Vrnak et al. (1991), the photospheric facular index (PFI) with constant facular contrastC _p = 0.018 is replaced by a variableC _p , depending on the plage brightness. A sgnificant increase ofC _p from 0.015 to 0.025 is found for plage areas varying from a few to approx. 6 · 10³ millionths hemispheres.Combining the facular irradiance excess with sunspot deficits (as determined for the same period by Steinegger et al. 1990) yields good aggrement with the irradiance variations measured by ACRIM I, using a center-to-limb variation ofC _p according to Chapman and Meyer (1986). The ratio of facular excess to sunspot deficit (integrated over solid angle 2) decreases from values of 1.5 to 2 for regions with sunspot areas below 100 millionths hemispheres to 0.2 for sunspots of areas > 1000 millionths hemispheres,     

The Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results (1874 – 1976): Summary of the Observations, Applications, Datasets, Definitions and Errors

The measurements of sunspot positions and areas that were published initially by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and subsequently by the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), as the Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results (GPR), 1874?–?1976, exist in both printed and digital forms. These printed and digital sunspot datasets have been archived in various libraries and data centres. Unfortunately, however, typographic, systematic and isolated errors can be found in the various datasets. The purpose of the present paper is to begin the task of identifying and correcting these errors. In particular, the intention is to provide in one foundational paper all the necessary background information on the original solar observations, their various applications in scientific research, the format of the different digital datasets, the necessary definitions of the quantities measured, and the initial identification of errors in both the printed publications and the digital datasets. Two companion papers address the question of specific identifiable errors; namely, typographic errors in the printed publications, and both isolated and systematic errors in the digital datasets. The existence of two independently prepared digital datasets, which both contain information on sunspot positions and areas, makes it possible to outline a preliminary strategy for the development of an even more accurate digital dataset. Further work is in progress to generate an extremely reliable sunspot digital dataset, based on the programme of solar observations supported for more than a century by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and the Royal Greenwich Observatory. This improved dataset should be of value in many future scientific investigations.     

The Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results (1874 – 1976): Initial Corrections to the Printed Publications

A new sunspot and faculae digital dataset for the interval 1874?–?1955 has been prepared under the auspices of the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). This digital dataset contains measurements of the positions and areas of both sunspots and faculae published initially by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and subsequently by the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), under the title Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results (GPR), 1874?–?1976. Quality control (QC) procedures based on logical consistency have been used to identify the more obvious errors in the RGO publications. Typical examples of identifiable errors are North versus South errors in specifying heliographic latitude, errors in specifying heliographic (Carrington) longitude, errors in the dates and times, errors in sunspot group numbers, arithmetic errors in the summation process, and the occasional omission of solar ephemerides. Although the number of errors in the RGO publications is remarkably small, an initial table of necessary corrections is provided for the interval 1874?–?1917. Moreover, as noted in the preceding companion papers, the existence of two independently prepared digital datasets, which both contain information on sunspot positions and areas, makes it possible to outline a preliminary strategy for the development of an even more accurate digital dataset. Further work is in progress to generate an extremely reliable sunspot digital dataset, based on the long programme of solar observations supported first by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and then by the Royal Greenwich Observatory.     

Sunspot Group Decay

We examine daily records of sunspot group areas (measured in millionths of a solar hemisphere or μHem) for the last 130 years to determine the rate of decay of sunspot group areas. We exclude observations of groups when they are more than 60° in longitude from the central meridian and only include data when at least three days of observations are available following the date of maximum area for a group’s disk passage. This leaves data for over 18 000 measurements of sunspot group decay. We find that the decay rate increases linearly from 28 μHem day⁻¹ to about 140 μHem day⁻¹ for groups with areas increasing from 35 μHem to 1000 μHem. The decay rate tends to level off for groups with areas larger than 1000 μHem. This behavior is very similar to the increase in the number of sunspots per group as the area of the group increases. Calculating the decay rate per individual sunspot gives a decay rate of about 3.65 μHem day⁻¹ with little dependence upon the area of the group. This suggests that sunspots decay by a Fickian diffusion process with a diffusion coefficient of about 10 km² s⁻¹. Although the 18 000 decay rate measurements are lognormally distributed, this can be attributed to the lognormal distribution of sunspot group areas and the linear relationship between area and decay rate for the vast majority of groups. We find weak evidence for variations in decay rates from one solar cycle to another and for different phases of each sunspot cycle. However, the strongest evidence for variations is with latitude and the variations with cycle and phase of each cycle can be attributed to this variation. High latitude spots tend to decay faster than low latitude spots.     

Sunspot cycle variations of ensemble-averaged active regions

We examine published sunspot and calcium plage areas for 1620 solar active regions between 1974 and 1985. With these data we study the properties of ensemble-averaged active regions. The average sunspot area per region, the average plage to sunspot area ratio, and the average plage intensity of regions all vary significantly with the sunspot cycle and in correlation with one another. The average plage area per region varies significantly but is uncorrelated with the sunspot cycle and with the other quantities. While the plage and sunspot areas and the plage intensities of individual active regions observed over a two-year period are strongly correlated, the relationship among these quantities appears to change over an 11-yr period. These results suggest the existence of some energetic connection between active region sunspot areas and plage intensities. Further, if energy balance between sunspot luminosity deficits and facular luminosity excesses holds, then standard models relating these quantities to sunspot and plage areas will have to be modified. Overall energy balance can neither be established nor ruled out.Solar Cycle Workshop Paper.     

A Curious History of Sunspot Penumbrae: An Update

The ratio of penumbral to umbral area of sunspots is an important topic for solar and geophysical studies. Hathaway (Solar Phys.286, 347, 2013) found a curious behaviour in this parameter for small sunspot groups (areas smaller than 100 millionths of solar hemisphere, msh) using records from Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO). Hathaway showed that the penumbra–umbra ratio decreased smoothly from more than 7 in 1905 to lower than 3 by 1930 and then increased to almost 8 in 1961. Thus, Hathaway proposed the existence of a secular variation in the penumbra–umbra area ratio. In order to confirm that secular variation, we employ data of the sunspot catalogue published by the Coimbra Astronomical Observatory (COI) for the period 1929?–?1941. Our results disagree with the penumbra–umbra ratio found by Hathaway for that period. However, the behaviour of this ratio for large (areas greater or equal than 100 msh) and small groups registered in COI during 1929?–?1941 is similar to data available from RGO for the periods 1874?–?1914 and 1950?–?1976. Nevertheless, while the average values and time evolution of the ratio in large groups are similar those for small groups according to the Coimbra data (1929?–?1941) it is not analogous for RGO data for the same period. We also found that the behaviour of the penumbra–umbra area ratio for smaller groups in both observatories is significantly different. The main difference between the area measurements made in Coimbra and RGO is associated with the umbra measurements. We would like to stress that the two observatories used different methods of observation and while in COI both methodology and instruments did not change during the study period, some changes were carried out in RGO that could have affected measurements of umbra and penumbra. These facts illustrate the importance of the careful recovery of past solar data.     

Differential rotation of the sun determined tracing sunspots and oscillations of sunspot tilt angle

The time and spatial characteristics of 324 large sunspots (S50 millionths of the solar hemisphere) selected from the Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory photoheliogram collection (1950–1990) have been studied. The variations of sunspot angular rotation velocity residuals and oscillations of sunspot tilt angle were analyzed. It has been shown that the differential rotation rate of selected sunspots correlates on average with the solar cycle. The deceleration of differential rotation of large sunspots begins on the ascending arm of the activity curve and ends on the descending arm reaching minimum near the epochs of solar activity maxima. This behavior disappears during the 21st cycle. The amplitudes and periods of sunspot tilt-angle oscillations correlate well with the solar activity cycle. Near the epochs of activity maximum there appear sunspots with large amplitudes and periods showing a significant scatter while the scatter near the minimum is rather low. We also found evidence of phase difference between the sunspot angular rotation velocity and the amplitudes and periods of tilt-angle oscillations.     

Digitization of sunspot drawings by Spörer made in 1861–1894

Most of our knowledge about the Sun's activity cycle arises from sunspot observations over the last centuries since telescopes have been used for astronomy. The German astronomer Gustav Spörer observed almost daily the Sun from 1861 until the beginning of 1894 and assembled a 33‐year collection of sunspot data covering a total of 445 solar rotation periods. These sunspot drawings were carefully placed on an equidistant grid of heliographic longitude and latitude for each rotation period, which were then copied to copper plates for a lithographic reproduction of the drawings in astronomical journals. In this article, we describe in detail the process of capturing these data as digital images, correcting for various effects of the aging print materials, and preparing the data for contemporary scientific analysis based on advanced image processing techniques. With the processed data we create a butterfly diagram aggregating sunspot areas, and we present methods to measure the size of sunspots (umbra and penumbra) and to determine tilt angles of active regions. A probability density function of the sunspot area is computed, which conforms to contemporary data after rescaling. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Sunspot Numbers and Areas from the Madrid Astronomical Observatory (1876 – 1986)

The solar program of the Astronomical Observatory of Madrid started in 1876. Observations were made in this institution to determine sunspot numbers and areas for ten solar cycles. The program was completed in 1986 and the resulting data have been published in various Spanish scientific publications. Four periods of this program (with different observers and instruments) were identified with the aid of the interesting metadata that has been made available. In the present work, the published data were retrieved and digitized. Their subsequent analysis showed that most of these data could be considered reliable given their very high correlation with reference indices (international sunspot number, group sunspot number, and sunspot area). An abrupt change emerged in the sunspots/groups ratio in 1946, which lasted until 1972.     

Sunspot Positions and Areas from Observations by Pierre Gassendi

Solar activity behaviour on the eve of the Maunder minimum may provide important information on the period of further suppression of sunspot population. We analyse sunspot positions and areas in the 1630s extracted from rare drawings published by Pierre Gassendi in Opera Omnia. This work was published in two different editions, the first in Lyon and the second almost 70 years later in Florence. The drawings published in Lyon are found to be slightly different from those published in Florence, which produces a discrepancy in the position of spots of a few degrees, while sunspot group areas may differ by a factor of two. We reveal that the orientation of the drawings in the book is not always the same as might be seen in the telescope. We conjecture that the time of Gassendi’s observations covers the beginning of a new Schwabe cycle in the southern hemisphere. The differential rotation rate in the 1630s is also assessed and discussed.     

Automation of Area Measurement of Sunspots

When drawing up a database for sunspots from a large collection of white-light films, a need for the automation of the process arises. The concepts used at the automation of the area measurements of sunspots are described. As an example, sunspot groups NOAA 5521 and 5528 are processed and the areas obtained are compared to the measurements published in the literature. Similar values are obtained, except umbral areas published by Steinegger et al. (1996) which are significantly larger than ours. We find that the differences may be attributed to the fact that the definition proposed by Steinegger et al. (1996) for the penumbra–umbra border of a sunspot is not equivalent to those used for the measurements of others of the umbral area.     

A Curious History of Sunspot Penumbrae

Daily records of sunspot group areas compiled by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from May of 1874 through 1976 indicate a curious history for the penumbral areas of the smaller sunspot groups. On average, the ratio of penumbral area to umbral area in a sunspot group increases from 5 to 6 as the total sunspot group area increases from 100 to 2000 μHem (a μHem is 10^?6 the area of a solar hemisphere). This relationship does not vary substantially with sunspot group latitude or with the phase of the sunspot cycle. However, for the sunspot groups with total areas <?100 μHem, this ratio changes dramatically and systematically through this historical record. The ratio for these smallest sunspots is near 5.5 from 1874 to 1900. After a rapid rise to more than 7 in 1905, it drops smoothly to less than 3 by 1930 and then rises smoothly back to more than 7 in 1961. It then returns to near 5.5 from 1965 to 1976. The smooth variation from 1905 to 1961 shows no indication of any step-like changes that might be attributed to changes in equipment or personnel. The overall level of solar activity was increasing monotonically during this time period when the penumbra-to-umbra area ratio dropped to less than half its peak value and then returned. If this history can be confirmed by other observations (e.g. Mt. Wilson or Kodaikanal), it may impact our understanding of penumbra formation, our dynamo models, and our estimates of historical changes in the solar irradiance.     

INTER-CYCLE VARIATIONS OF SOLAR IRRADIANCE: SUNSPOT AREAS AS A POINTER

Most of the present models and reconstructions of solar irradiance use the concept of Photometric Sunspot Index (PSI) to account for the influence of sunspots on solar brightness. Since PSI is based on measured sunspot areas a firm database of such areas is essential. We show, however, that a significant disagreement exists between the data provided by the Royal Greenwich Observatory (from 1874 to 1976) and newer measurements provided by the observatories of Rome, Yunnan, Catania, and the US Air Force. The overlap of the time intervals over which sunspot areas were measured at Greenwich and Rome allows us to quantify the difference between the Greenwich and other data sets. We find that the various data sets differ, at least in a statistical sense, mainly by a correction factor of between 1.15 and 1.25.The revised time series of sunspot areas correlates well with the Zürich sunspot relative numbers over the last 120 years, with the relationship between sunspot areas and sunspot numbers changing only slightly from one cycle to the next. In particular, no indication exists for any extraordinary magnetic behavior of the Sun during the last 2 decades, as might falsely be concluded if the various sunspot area data sets are uncritically combined. There are, however, some indications that cycles 15 and 16 deviate from the rest. We expect that our results should have a significant influence on the reconstruction of the historical solar irradiance.     

The Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results (1874 – 1976): Procedures for Checking and Correcting the Sunspot Digital Datasets

Attention is drawn to the existence of errors in the original digital dataset containing sunspot data extracted from certain sections of the printed Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results (GPR) 1874?–?1976. Calculating the polar coordinates from the heliographic coordinates and comparing them with the recorded polar coordinates reveals that there are both isolated and systematic errors in the original sunspot digital dataset, particularly during the early years (1874?–?1914). It should be noted that most of these errors are present in the compiled sunspot digital dataset and not in the original printed copies of the Greenwich Photo-heliographic Results. Surprisingly, many of the errors in the digitised positions of sunspot groups are apparently in the measured polar coordinates, not the derived heliographic coordinates. The mathematical equations that are used to convert between heliographic and polar coordinate systems are formulated and then used to calculate revised (digitised) polar coordinates for sunspot groups, on the assumption that the heliographic coordinates of every sunspot group are correct. The additional complication of requiring accurate solar ephemerides in order to solve the mathematical equations is discussed in detail. It is shown that the isolated and systematic errors, which are prevalent in the sunspot digital dataset during the early years, disappear if revised polar coordinates are used instead. A comprehensive procedure for checking the original sunspot digital dataset is formulated in an Appendix.     

The growth and decay of sunspots: Comparison between the Greenwich and Mount Wilson sunspot data

The complete sample of theGreenwich Photoheliographic Results (GPR) for the years 1874–1976 was used for the investigation of the growth and decay of sunspot groups. The results were compared with similar findings from the Mt. Wilson sunspot data for the years 1917–1985, which were recently published by R. F. Howard. The results of the absolute umbral area changes are about the same for both sets of data. The main difference between the sets of data occurs for the percentage increase of the umbral areas as a function of latitude. The mean values from the Mt. Wilson data are bigger by a factor of 5 to 7 and show a dependence on the latitude, while the increase of the Greenwich data does not depend on the latitude. The decrease of sunspot areas as a function of latitude is only available from the Greenwich data. There occur higher values for the decrease for higher latitudes from 2.5 up to 42.5 deg     

Automatic Detection of Sunspots and Extractionof Their Feature Parameters

Sunspots are solar features located in active regions of the Sun, whose number is an indicator of the Sun's magnetic activity. With a substantial increase in the quantity of solar image data, the automated detection and verification of various solar features have become increasingly important for the accurate and timely forecasts of solar activity and space weather. In order to use the high time-cadence SDO/HMI data to extract the main sunspot features for forecasting solar activities, we have established an automatic detection method of sunspots based on mathematical morphology, and calculated the sunspot group area and sunspot number. By comparing our results with those obtained from the Solar Region Summary compiled by NOAA/SWPC, it is found that the sunspot group areas and sunspot numbers computed with our algorithm are in good agreement with the active region values released by SWPC, and the corresponding correlation coefficients for the sunspot group area and sunspot number are 0.77 and 0.79, respectively. By using the method of this paper, the high time-cadence feature parameters can be obtained from the HMI data to provide the timely and accurate inputs for the solar activity forecast.     

太阳黑子月平均面积数活动周及其特征

我们对第12周至第22周的太阳黑子月平均面积数进行统计分析,并与相应的太阳黑子月平均数相比较,结果表明太阳黑子月平均面积数活动周与太阳黑子月平均数活动周有一定的关系。在多数情况下,太阳黑子出现最大值的时间与太阳黑子面积数出现最大值的时间上不一致;太阳黑子平滑月平均数活动周上升期与太阳黑子平滑月平均面积数上升期在大多数情况下不相同;太阳黑子平滑月平均数活动周平均效果的瓦德迈尔效应(Waldmeiereffect)一般要比太阳黑子平滑平均面积数的活动周明显;文中还对太阳黑子平滑月平均面积数活动周的特征进行了分析。     

Processing Photometric Full-Disk Solar Images

Daily, photometric, full-disk digital solar images have been taken at the San Fernando Observatory (SFO) at two resolutions and in several wavelengths for more than eleven years. We describe the standard data processing techniques used for these images, including: calibration, limb fitting, geometric correction, and production of a solar contrast map by limb-darkening removal. The resulting contrast maps have a photometric accuracy which is often a few tenths of a percent. We show that the geometric accuracy of our images, as measured by the reproducibility of disk and sunspot areas, is very high as well. The techniques described in this paper should be applicable to any instrument producing full-disk photometric images.     

Automatic Sunspots Detection on Full-Disk Solar Images using Mathematical Morphology

Sunspots are solar features located in active regions of the Sun, whose number is an indicator of the Sun’s magnetic activity. Therefore accurate detection and classification of sunspots are fundamental for the elaboration of solar activity indices such as the Wolf number. However, irregularities in the shape of the sunspots and their variable intensity and contrast with the surroundings, make their automated detection from digital images difficult. Here, we present a morphological tool that has allowed us to construct a simple and automatic procedure to treat digital photographs obtained from a solar telescope, and to extract the main features of sunspots. Comparing the solar indices computed with our algorithm against those obtained with the previous method exhibit an obvious improvement. A favorable comparison of the Wolf sunspot number time series obtained with our methodology and from other reference observatories is also presented. Finally, we compare our sunspot and group detection to that of other observatories.     

Measurement of Kodaikanal white-light images – IV. Axial Tilt Angles of Sunspot Groups

The Kodaikanal sunspot data set, covering the interval 1906–1987, is used in conjunction with the similar Mount Wilson sunspot data set, covering the interval 1917–1985, to examine characteristics of sunspot group axial tilt angles. Good agreement is demonstrated between various results derived from the two independent data sets. In particular, the tendency for sunspot groups near the average tilt angle to be larger than those far from the average tilt angle is confirmed. Similarly the faster residual rotation rate for groups near the average tilt angle is also confirmed. Other confirmations are made for the relationships between latitude drift of sunspot groups and tilt angle, polarity separations, and axial expansion. Evidence is presented that tilt angles averaged over these long time intervals differ between the north and south hemispheres by about 1.4 deg. It is suggested that residual tilt angles show a slight systematic variation with phase in the activity cycle.