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.     

Solar system science

Solar system exploration has continued to be in the headlines recently, following the arrival of Cassini in orbit around Saturn and the continuing successes of the US and European Mars missions. Peter Bond reports.     

Solar system summer

It's one thing to picture weather on other planets in the solar system, quite another to get any idea of conditions on planets orbiting other stars, but that is what researchers using the Spitzer Space Telescope have done.     

Properties of the Variability of the Solar Constant as an Index of Solar Activity

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The properties of the solar constant variability are considered according to the results of satellite observations ( http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/sorce/data/tsi-data/...     

Anomalous Heating of the Solar Atmosphere in the Epoch of the Solar Activity Minimum

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The article studies the physical mechanism of the generation of a steady stream of weak shock waves at the photospheric level during the epoch of the solar-activity...     

Self-Organized Criticality of Solar Magnetism

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - Self-organization is a property of any nonlinear, dynamic, dissipative system that evolves under the influence of external forces and positive feedback....     

Solar activity secular cycles

Long-term variations in solar activity secular cycles have been studied using a method for the expansion of reconstructed sunspot number series Sn(t) for 11400 years in terms of natural orthogonal functions. It has been established that three expansion components describe more than 98% of all Sn(t) variations. In this case, the contribution of the first expansion component is about 92%. The averaged form of the 88year secular cycle has been determined based on the form of the first expansion coordinate function. The quasi-periodicities modulating the secular cycle have been revealed based on the time function conjugate to the first function. The quasi-periodicities modulating the secular cycle coincide with those observed in the Sn(t) series spectrum. A change in the secular cycle form and the time variations in this form are described by the second and third expansion components, the contributions of which are about 4 and 2%, respectively. The variations in the steepness of the secular cycle branches are more pronounced in the 200-year cycle, and the secular cycle amplitude varies more evidently in the 2300-year cycle.     

Solar physics in Dublin

This year's annual UK Solar Physics meeting took place in Dublin from 7–11 April 2003, overlapping with the National Astronomy Meeting. R Erdélyi, L Fletcher and G J Doyle summarize.     

Total Solar Irradiance Observations

The record of total solar irradiance (TSI) during the past 35?years has overlapping observations from space which can be merged to a composite, and three are available, namely the PMOD, the ACRIM and the IRMB composites. There are important differences between them, which are discussed in detail in order to find the best representation of solar variability during the last three cycles, for the following discussions of solar irradiance variability. Moreover, the absolute value of TSI from TIM on SORCE is 1,361?Wm^?2, substantially lower than the value 1,365?Wm^?2, which was observed by the classical radiometers. New results from specific experiments are now available, which are discussed in order to define the value to be used in, e.g., climate models. The most important issue regarding the recent TSI records is the low value observed during the minimum in 2009, which is 25% of a typical cycle amplitude lower than the value in 1996. The validity of this low value has been confirmed by comparing all existing TSI observations during cycle 23. On the other hand, activity indices, such as the sunspot number, the 10.7-cm radio flux (F10.7), the CaII and MgII indices and also the Ly-α irradiance or the frequency changes in low-order p modes, show a much smaller decreases relative to their respective typical cycle amplitude. It is most likely that an increasing contrast of the facular and network elements with decreasing magnetic field is responsible for this discrepancy. The value of TSI at minima is correlated with the open magnetic field of the Sun, B _R,?at minima. Using B _R at minima, interpolated linearly in between as a fourth component of a proxy model based on the photometric sunspot index and on the MgII index improves the explanation of the variance of TSI over the full period of the last three solar cycles to 84.7%. Results from other models are also discussed.     

Solar corona top heating

The solar magnetic field fragmentation into thin magnetic tubes above the photosphere makes it possible to transform and factorize MHD equations analytically and to obtain explicit expressions for Alfvén and magnetosonic fields. A physical model that enables an explanation of the effect of strong heating of the solar chromosphere and corona has been proposed. This model makes it possible to estimate analytically a powerful Alfvén disturbance entering the chromosphere due to convective motions of the photosphere and a thermal release due to a three-wave interaction within the chromosphere.     

Solar constant and sunspots

Summary The relationship, already found by the authors, between sunspot numbers and the solar constant, as deduced from the highest global irradiance values at noon, is here reexamined and confirmed. Some attempts at explanation and further inferences are presented.     

Solar polar magnetic field

The solar polar magnetic field has attracted the attention of researchers since the polar magnetic field reversal was revealed in the middle of the last century (Babcock and Livingston, 1958). The polar magnetic field has regularly reversed because the magnetic flux is transported from the sunspot formation zone owing to differential rotation, meridional circulation, and turbulent diffusion. However, modeling of these processes leads to ambiguous conclusions, as a result of which it is sometimes unclear whether a transport model is actual. Thus, according to the last Hinode data, the problem of a standard transport model (Shiota et al., 2012) consists in that a decrease in the polar magnetic flux in the Southern Hemisphere lags behind such a decrease in the flux in the Northern Hemisphere (from 2008 to June 2012). On the other hand, Svalgaard and Kamide (2012) consider that the asymmetry in the sign reversal simply results from the asymmetry in the emerging flux in the sunspot formation region. A detailed study of the polar magnetic flux evolution according to the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) data for May 2010–December 2012 is illustrated in the present work. Helioseismic & Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetic data in the form of a magnetic field component along the line of sight (the time resolution is 720 s) are used here. The magnetic fluxes in sunspot formation regions and at high latitudes have been compared.     

Solar Activity Predictability Horizons

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The chaotic component in solar-activity variations, the limited amount of observational statistics, and the use of proxy data impose limitations on long-term...     

Versions of Time Series for Classical Solar Indices and an Adequate Description of Solar Activity

This article discusses issues relevant to the 2015 recalibration of the time series of classical solar indices. It shows that the Wolf numbers WN and the group numbers GN are sensitive to the quality of the observations underpinning the reconstructions of the relevant time series, given the intermittent recordings in the 17th and 18th centuries. The authors suggest that research efforts should focus on the compilation of a long series of total sunspot areas (absolute sunspot magnetic flux), because, on the one hand, this series is less sensitive to poor-quality observations, while, on the other hand, it reflects a clear physical index.     

Forecast of the Quasi-Stationary and Transient Solar Wind Streams Based on Solar Observations in 2010

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The results of the forecasting of quasi-stationary and transient solar wind streams velocity for a period from May to December 2010 are presented. The velocity of...     

Solar connections of geoeffective magnetic structures

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and high-speed solar wind streams (HSS) are two solar phenomena that produce large-scale structures in the interplanetary (IP) medium. CMEs evolve into interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) and the HSS result in corotating interaction regions (CIRs) when they interact with preceding slow solar wind. This paper summarizes the properties of these structures and describes their geoeffectiveness. The primary focus is on the intense storms of solar cycle 23 because this is the first solar cycle during which simultaneous, extensive, and uniform data on solar, IP, and geospace phenomena exist. After presenting illustrative examples of coronal holes and CMEs, I discuss the internal structure of ICMEs, in particular the magnetic clouds (MCs). I then discuss how the magnetic field and speed correlate in the sheath and cloud portions of ICMEs. CME speed measured near the Sun also has significant correlations with the speed and magnetic field strengths measured at 1 AU. The dependence of storm intensity on MC, sheath, and CME properties is discussed pointing to the close connection between solar and IP phenomena. I compare the delay time between MC arrival at 1 AU and the peak time of storms for the cloud and sheath portions and show that the internal structure of MCs leads to the variations in the observed delay times. Finally, we examine the variation of solar-source latitudes of IP structures as a function of the solar cycle and find that they have to be very close to the disk center.     

Interaction of Solar-Flare-Accelerated Nuclei with the Solar Photosphere and the Isotopic Composition of the Solar Wind

The nuclear interactions of solar-flare-accelerated protons and ions with the solar atmosphere and the deeper layers of the Sun lead to the formation of several stable and radioactive isotopes. This article examines the GEANT4 depth profiles of ²H, ³H, ³He, ⁶Li, ⁷Li, ¹⁰Be, and ¹⁴C. When accelerated particles pass through a layer of 0.1–2 g cm^–2, ⁶Li, ⁷Li, ¹⁰Be, and ¹⁴C isotopes form in sufficient amounts to explain their anomalous abundances in lunar soil samples. It is assumed that they escape into interplanetary space with coronal mass ejections immediately after the flare.     

The Color of Solar Corona Structures

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - Two-dimensional distributions of the relative color index (RCI) of the continuous corona spectrum of 1991 and 2006 reveal that the energy distributions in the continuums...     

Solar activity and geomagnetic disturbances

An analysis of IZNIRAN magnetic observatory data indicated that geomagnetic storms with sudden and gradual commencements form two independent populations with respect to the disturbance occurrence time and character because the solar sources of these disturbances are different. Storms with sudden and gradual commencements are caused by coronal mass ejections and high-speed solar wind streams from coronal holes, respectively.