North and south major flare periodicities during solar cycle 20

The periodicities of monthly values of major flare numbers and comprehensive major flare index (CFI) have been studied for the 20^th solar cycle. It has been proved that the periodicity 152 days exists also in the southern (S) solar hemisphere. This periodicity has been previously defined in the earlier cycles to be a northern (N) periodicity, but it has migrated to the southern hemisphere (S) during the cycles 19, 20, 21. For the whole solar disk data, it has been found that the periodicity at 78.43^d is much remarkable than its first harmonic at 156.86^d. We have also detected very strong periodicity at 548.96^d in N-hemisphere while a strong one has been found near 100^d in both solar hemispheres. The detected periodicities at 80±2^d and 101-⁺1^d seems to have a global origin . The 87.1^d periodicity is present and it is suggested that it is related to 88^d periodicity attributed to the tidal influence of the planet Mercury on sunspots. Both hemispheres present their periodicities independently.     

Fluctuations of the Solar Dynamo Observed in the Solar Wind and Interplanetary Magnetic Field at 1 AU and in the Outer Heliosphere

Recent helioseismic observations have found strong fluctuations at a period of about 1.3 years in the rotation speed around the tachocline in the deep solar convection layer. Similar mid-term quasi-periodicities (MTQP; periods between 1–2 years) are known to occur in various solar atmospheric and heliospheric parameters for centuries. Since the deep convection layer is the expected location of the solar magnetic dynamo, its fluctuations could modulate magnetic flux generation and cause related MTQP fluctuations at the solar surface and beyond. Accordingly, it is likely that the heliospheric MTQP periodicities reflect similar changes in solar dynamo activity. Here we study the occurrence of the MTQP periodicities in the near and distant heliosphere in the solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field observed by several satellites at 1 AU and by four interplanetary probes (Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2) in the outer heliosphere. The overall structure of MTQP fluctuations in the different locations of the heliosphere is very consistent, verifying the solar (not heliospheric) origin of these periodicities. We find that the mid-term periodicities were particularly strong during solar cycle 22 and were observed at two different periods of 1.3 and 1.7 years simultaneously. These periodicities were latitudinally organized so that the 1.3-year periodicity was found in solar wind speed at low latitudes and the 1.7-year periodicity in IMF intensity at mid-latitudes. While all heliospheric results on the 1.3-year periodicity are in a good agreement with helioseismic observations, the 1.7-year periodicity has so far not been detected in helioseismic observations. This may be due to temporal changes or due to the helioseismic method where hemispherically antisymmetric fluctuations would so far have remained hidden. In fact, there is evidence that MTQP fluctuations may occur antisymmetrically in the northern and southern solar hemisphere. Moreover, we note that the MTQP pattern was quite different during solar cycles 21 and 22, implying fundamental differences in solar dynamo action between the two halves of the magnetic cycle.     

Intermediate-term periodicities in solar activity

The presence of intermediate-term periodicities in solar activity, at approximately 323 and 540 days, has been claimed by different authors. In this paper, we have performed a search for them in the historical records of two main indices of solar activity, namely, the daily sunspot areas (cycles 12–21) and the daily Zürich sunspot number (cycles 6–21). Two different methods to compute power spectra have been used, one of them being especially appropriate to deal with gapped time series. The results obtained for the periodicity near 323 days indicate that it has only been present in cycle 21, while in previous cycles no significant evidence for it has been found. On the other hand, a significant periodicity at 350 days is found in sunspot areas and Zürich sunspot number during cycles 12–21 considered all together, also having been detected in some individual cycles. However, this last periodicity must be looked into with care due to the lack of confirmation for it coming from other features of solar activity. The periodicity around 540 days is found in cycles 12, 14, and 17 in sunspot areas, while during cycles 18 and 19 it is present, with a very high significance, in sunspot areas and Zürich sunspot number. It also appears at 528 days in sunspot areas during cycles 12–21. On the other hand, it is important to note the coincidence between the asymmetry, favouring the northern hemisphere, of sunspot areas and solar flares during cycle 19, and the fact that the periodicity at 540 days was only present, with high significance, in that hemisphere during that solar cycle.     

The Periodicity of High-Latitude Solar Activity

The periodicity of high-latitude solar activity has been studied with the use of the Carte Synoptique solar filaments archive. The Morlet wavelet is utilized to analyze the periodicity of the number of solar filaments at latitudes over 50° during Carrington solar rotations 876 – 1823. For solar filaments at latitudes over 50°, the most eminent periods are about 10.23 and 10.90 years, which correspond to the Schwabe period of high-latitude solar activity, and the these periods make-up a highly significant proportion of the time span considered. The periods of 1.3 and 1.7 years and the quasi-biennial 2 – 3-year oscillation often mentioned in the literature are not found to be a feature of every solar cycle but seem to appear only from time to time.     

Systematic investigation of mid-term periodicity of the solar full-disk magnetic fields

The Magnetic Plage Strength Index(MPSI) and the Mount Wilson Sunspot Index(MWSI), which have been measured at Mount Wilson Observatory(MWO) since the 1970 s and which indicate weak and strong magnetic field activity on the solar full disk, respectively, are used to systematically investigate midterm periodicities in the solar full-disk magnetic fields. Multitudinous mid-term periodicities are detected in MPSI and MWSI on timescales of 0.3 to 4.5 yr, and these periodicities are found to fluctuate around several typical periodicities within a small amplitude in different solar cycles or phases. The periodicity of 3.44 yr is found in MPSI, and the periodicities of 3.85 and 3.00 yr are detected in MWSI. Our analysis indicates that they reflect the true oscillating signals of solar magnetic field activity. The typical periodicities are 2.8,2.3 and 1.8 yr in MPSI and MWSI, and possible mechanisms for these periodicities are discussed. A 1.3 yr periodicity is only detected in MPSI, and should be related to meridional flows on the solar surface. The typical annual periodicity of MPSI and MWSI is 1.07 yr, which is not derived from the annual variation of Earth's heliolatitude. Several periodicities shorter than 1 yr found in MPSI and MWSI are considered to be Rieger-type periodicities.     

Short-term periodicities in sunspot areas during solar cycle 22

We have analyzed the daily record of sunspot areas during the current cycle 22 looking for the short-term periodicity of around 155 days which was present during some previous solar cycles. Two different methods have been used to compute the power spectra and the results indicate that such periodicity has been absent during the current solar cycle, which confirms the results obtained by other authors who used flares or flare-related data.However, we have found that, during some intervals of time, a periodicity close to 86 days is statistically significant. A similar periodicity was found by Landscheit (1986) in energetic X-ray flares, between 1970 and 1982 (second and first half of solar cycles 20 and 21, respectively), and by Bai (1992b) for important solar flares during solar cycle 20.     

155-day Periodicity in solar cycles 3 and 4

The near 155 days solar periodicity, so called Rieger periodicity, was first detected in solar flares data and later confirmed with other important solar indices. Unfortunately, a comprehensive analysis on the occurrence of this periodicity during previous centuries can be further complicated due to the poor quality of the sunspot number time series. We try to detect the Rieger periodicity during the solar cycles 3 and 4 using information on aurorae observed at mid and low latitudes. We use two recently discovered aurora datasets, observed in the last quarter of the 18th century from UK and Spain. Besides simple histograms of time between consecutive events we analyse monthly series of number of aurorae observed using different spectral analysis (MTM and Wavelets). The histograms show the probable presence of Rieger periodicity during cycles 3 and 4. However different spectral analysis applied has only confirmed undoubtedly this hypothesis for solar cycle 3.     

Periodicities in Solar Flare Index for Cycles 21 – 23 Revisited

The periodic analyses of solar flare data have been carried out by different authors for about three decades. Controversial results appear as depending on the analysis techniques and investigated time periods. Considering that different authors applied different methods to different data sets, it seems necessary to reanalyze the periodicity of solar flare index with a unified method. In this study we used two new methods to investigate the periodic behavior of solar flare index data, first for individual cycles 21, 22 and 23, and then for all of them. We used i) the multi taper method with red- and white-noise approximations, and ii) the Morlet wavelet transform for periodicity analysis. Apart from the solar rotation periodicity of about 27 days which is of obvious significance and is found in all examined cycles with at least a 90% significance level, we obtained the following prominent periods: 152 days for cycle 21, 73 days for cycle 22, and 62 days for cycle 23. Finally, we compare our results with the ones previously found. We emphasize the fact that a lesser number of periodicities is found in the range of low frequencies (long periods) while the higher frequencies show a greater number of periodicities. This result might be useful for better predictions of the solar cycles.     

Thirteen-day periodicity and the center-to-limb dependence of UV,EUV, and X-ray emission of solar activity

Periodicity in the 13–14 day range for full-disk UV fluxes comes mainly from episodes of solar activity with two peaks per rotation, produced by the solar rotational modulation from two groups of active regions roughly 180° apart in solar longitude. Thirteen-day periodicity is quite strong relative to the 27-day periodicity for the solar UV flux at most wavelengths in the 1750–2900 Å range, because the rapid decrease in UV plage emission on average with increasing solar central angle shapes the UV variations for two peaks per rotation into nearly a 13-day sinusoid, with deep minima when the main groups of active regions are near the limb. Chromospheric EUV lines and ground-based chromospheric indices have moderate 13-day periodicity, where the slightly greater emission of regions near the limbs causes a lower strength relative to the 27-day variations than in the above UV case. The lack of 13-day periodicity in the solar 10.7 cm flux is caused by its broad central angle dependence that averages out the 13-day variations and produces nearly sinusoidal 27-day variations. Optically thin full-disk soft X-rays can have 13-day periodicity out of phase with that of the UV flux because the X-ray emission peaks when both groups of active regions are within view, one group at each limb, when the optically thick UV flux is at a rotational minimum. The lack of 13-day periodicity in the strong coronal lines of Fexv at 284 Å and Fexvi at 335 Å during episodes of 13-day periodicity in UV and soft X-ray fluxes shows that the active region emission in these strong lines is not optically thin; resonant scattering is suggested to cause an effective optical depth near unity in these hot coronal lines for active regions near the limb.     

高能粒子流对地震活动的可能调制

把地球作为一个开放系统，本文分析了不同地域范围的地震活动和太阳活动的关系，发现不同地域的地震活动也存在着一个大约１１年的周期，这个周期可能与太阳活动的１１年左右周期有关，但地震周期的峰值对应于太阳活动的下降段。它们的关系是负相关关系。本文进一步着重分析了地震活动与高速太阳风粒子流和宇宙线高能粒子流的关系，发现它们之间存在着一个信度水平很高的正相关。这样，我们可以推测太阳活动可能是通过调制到达地球的高能粒子流进而调制地震活动的。     

78-Day periodicity in the solar 1–8 Å X-ray index during the ascending branch of cycle 21

In the present paper, the time series of 1–8 Å X-ray index for the time interval between January 1977 to September 1981 has been analyzed by carrying out power spectrum using Discrete Fourier Transform. The 78-day periodicity which is one-half of the period found from various solar parameters of cycles 20 and 21 by various authors, was found. This periodicity is thought to be related to the 152-day periodicity.     

The 73-day periodicity of the flare index during the current solar cycle 22

The flare index of the current solar cycle 22 is analysed to detect intermediate-term periodicities from Sep. 1, 1986 to Dec. 31, 1991. Power spectral analysis of the time series of solar flare index data reveals a periodicity around 73 and 53 days. We find that a periodicity of 73 days was in operation from 1988 November to the end of 1991 December. We also find that when the 73-day periodicity or the 154-day periodicity is in operation, the flare index is well correlated with the relative sunspot numbers. As a conclusion, we do not expect to see a resumption of the 154-day or 73-day periodicity, but we do expect only one of the periodicity near the integral multiples of 25^d.8 in the next solar cycles.     

太阳活动与变化的150天周期研究进展

太阳活动，除了涵盖太阳表面磁场驱动的活动现象外，还包括光度、自转和对称性等物理因素的长期演化。研究它们变化的周期对深入理解其产生机制有着重要的指导意义。从1984年Rieger等人首次发现耀斑的产生率存在约154d周期始，人们在很多现象中都找到了它的踪影，150余d的周期成了继11yr太阳活动周和27d太阳自转周后最引人注目的新周期。重点综述了在耀斑、黑子等活动领域内对150d周期现象研究的现状，介绍了有关它成因的研究进展，指出了尚待解决的问题及进一步努力的方向。     

Periodicities in Forbush decreases and solar activity

We have studied Forbush decreases (FD) with solar flare data and major solar proton event (SPE) data (E > 10 MeV) for the years 1976–1986 and have found that FD solar flare data exhibit periods around 0.95, 2.4, and 4.75 years at >99% level of confidence (CL), while SPE data exhibit periods around 2.6 and 5.0 years (at >95% CL). Because of a common periodicity around 2.5 years, it is suggested that FD with the solar flare data and major SPE data, together with solar diameter and solar neutrino variations, behave similarly and may have a common origin.     

Quasi-Periodic Long-Term Solar Radio Pulsations During A Decimetric Type IV Burst

Long-periodic pulsations with a period of tens of seconds associated with a Type IV solar radio emission are found at 1420 and 2000 MHz. Some features (such as the bandwidth, periodicity, frequency drift, amplitude, and relative amplitude) of the pulsations are introduced and discussed in this paper.     

Cosmic-ray Periodicity at 170 Days

Power-spectral analysis of cosmic-ray indices (CRI) data for the years 1989–1991 shows a 170-day periodicity of cosmic rays. The periodicity is related to a strong magnetic field. Power-spectral analysis of the long-term periodicity (11 years) of the CRI data for the years 1953–1997 shows that the period 1989–1991 is a unique one in the sense of the discussed pronounced periodicity. The 170-day periodicity of cosmic rays was interpreted in the base of six solar rotations (1 SR = 28.3-day periodicity of 10.7 cm solar radio flux) and may be connected to the instability of the solar core.     

The 73-day periodicity of the flare index during the current solar cycle 22

The flare index of the current solar cycle 22 is analysed to detect periodicities. Power spectral analysis of the time series of solar flare index data reveals a periodicity around 73 and 53 days. We find that a periodicity of 73 days was in operation from November 1988 to the end of December 1991. We also find that when the 73-day periodicity or the 154-day periodicity is in operation the flare index is well correlated with the relative sunspot numbers.     

太阳活动极大和极小期太阳磁场周期变化研究

利用Wilcox天文台1975年到2010年间的太阳磁场数据,分析了太阳平均磁场在太阳活动极大和极小时期的短时周期性.结果显示太阳磁场主要具有9 d、13.5 d、27 d左右的周期.在太阳活动极大时期,27 d左右周期最为显著,而在太阳活动极小时期最显著的周期为13.5 d左右(1984～1986年间的太阳活动极小时期除外).这些结果说明太阳的活动区域在活动极大和极小时期具有明显不同的分布.     

Periodicities in the λ10 cm solar flux

An analysis has been carried out on the 32 years of 10 cm solar flux data, published by Covington, to test for evidence of the periodicities found by others using different techniques. Two features with periods of about 25 and 31 days appear to persist throughout the data, but there is no evidence for the 12.6 days periodicity claimed by Dicke and Goldenberg from solar ellipticity measurements, nor for the 12.07 day periodicity claimed by Knight et al. from an analysis of sunspot numbers. A 750 day periodicity is evident during 1970–75; this may correspond to the feature deduced by Sakurai from the sunspot numbers (and claimed to correlate with the neutrino flux); this feature can change in amplitude at other times. The other major feature has a period of about 1100 days, but disappears completely during 1970–75. The above periods are all synodic.On leave of absence at Sterrewacht, Leiden, The Netherlands during 1979/80.     

Periodicities in the occurrence rate of solar proton events

Power spectral analyses of the time series of solar proton events during the past three solar cycles reveal a periodicity around 154 days. This feature is prominent in all of the cycles combined, cycles 19 and 21 individually but is only weak in cycle 20. These results are consistent with the presence of similar periodicities between 152 and 155 days in the occurrence rate of major solar flares, the sunspot blocking function (P _s ), the 10.7 cm radio flux (F _10.7) and the sunspot number (R _z ). This suggests that the circa 154-days periodicity may be a fundamental characteristic of the Sun. Periods around 50–52 days are also found in the combined data set and in the three individual cycles in general agreement with the detection of this periodicity in major flares in cycle 19 and inP _s ,F _10.7, andR _z in cycle 21. The cause of the 155 day period remains unknown. The spectra contain lines (or show power at frequencies) consistent with a model in which the periodicity is caused by differential rotation of active zones and a model in which it is related to beat frequencies between solar oscillations, as proposed by Wolff.