Radiocarbon Data from the Late 18th Century as a Reflection of Solar Activity Variation,Natural Climate Change,and Anthropogenic Activity

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The data on the content of the 14C cosmogenic isotope in the natural archives make it possible to study the solar activity (SA) in the past centuries and millennia....     

The Waldmeier Effect for Two Sunspot Populations

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - This paper continues our studies in which we showed that sunspot groups form two populations differing by physical properties—populations of small and large...     

Form of the latitude distribution of sunspot activity

The spatial (latitude) distribution of sunspots is studied, including its dependence on solar activity. It is shown that the latitude distributions of sunspots for a given year can be approximately described by the normal law, with its variance being a linear function of the current level of solar activity. Thus, an increase in activity is accompanied by an expansion of the zone of solar activity, in good agreement with earlier results. As the solar activity increases, the width of the zone of sunspot generation and the latitude maximum of the sunspot density grow somewhat more slowly than the number of sunspots, in agreement with observations. The results obtained can be used to reconstruct the spatial distributions of sunspots in the past, interpret the magnetic activity of stars, and address the requirements of the dynamo theory in the form of constraints imposed on models of cyclicity.     

Oscillations of flux tube bundles and the structure of sunspot magnetic fields

Observational aspects of the previously found quasi-hourly oscillations of magnetic fragments in sunspot polar coordinates are investigated. The orientation of the oscillations is shown to be azimuthally anisotropic, with their amplitude reaching a maximum in penumbra at a distance of ～0.8 sunspot radius (the maximum amplitude is estimated to be 3700 km). Based on the detected deviations of the oscillations from the radial direction, we numerically simulate the horizontal configuration of field lines in the region of the major spots in bipolar groups.     

Two populations of sunspots and secular variations of their characteristics

We investigate the magnetic fields and total areas of mid- and low-latitude sunspots based on observations at the Greenwich and Kislovodsk (sunspot areas) and Mount Wilson, Crimean, Pulkovo, Ural, IMIS, Ussuriysk, IZMIRAN, and Shemakha (magnetic fields) observatories. We show that the coefficients in the linear form of the dependence of the logarithm of the total sunspot area S on its maximum magnetic field H change with time. Two distinct populations of sunspots are identified using the twodimensional H–log S occurrence histogram: small and large, separated by the boundaries log S = 1.6 (S = 40 MSH) and H = 2050 G. Analysis of the sunspot magnetic flux also reveals the existence of two lognormally distributed populations with the mean boundary between them Φ = 10²¹ Mx. At the same time, the positions of the flux occurrence maxima for the populations change on a secular time scale: by factors of 4.5 and 1.15 for small and large sunspots, respectively. We have confirmed that the sunspots form two physically distinct populations and show that the properties of these populations change noticeably with time. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis about the existence of two magnetic field generation zones on the Sun within the framework of a spatially distributed dynamo.     

Properties of the sunspot latitudinal distribution skewness

The properties of the sunspot latitudinal distributions related to skewness have been studied based on the data of the extended Greenwich catalog for 1874–2011. The results of the performed analysis indicate that a significant skewness is present in most annual latitudinal distributions of the sunspot index. In this case, the distribution skewness increases near the 11-year cycle maximum phase. An increase in the sunspot group number is also accompanied by an increase in skewness. In particular, when the sunspot index is large, the number of groups located below midlatitudes is mostly larger than the number of groups above these latitudes and this imbalance increases with increasing total sunspot activity level. In medium and large 11-year cycles, the average distribution skewness for a cycle is always positive and its value is related to the cycle amplitude. This results agree with the theoretical models of the 11-year cycle, where the specific features of the low-latitude meridional circulation are related to the sunspot activity level.     

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.     

Solar and geomagnetic activity on a long time scale: Reconstructions and possibilities for predictions

Using two mathematical methods based on the wavelet transform and nonlinear dynamics, we reconstructed the behavior of the aa-index of geomagnetic activity in the past. Two versions of the series are provided: for the last 400 years and on an almost 1000-year time scale. We consider typical values of the aa-index at grandiose extrema of solar activity. The same high level of geomagnetic activity as that observed in the last 50 years is shown to have also taken place in the early 12th and late 14th centuries. We suggest an extended time series of A-indices of the large-scale solar magnetic field. On the 400-year time scale, we confirmed that the large-scale magnetic field develops earlier than the magnetic fields of active regions. Ohl’s prediction method was verified on the same time scale.     

ESAI database and some properties of solar activity in the past

In this work a new information resource located at http://www.gao.spb.ru/database/esai and hereinafter referred to as ESAI (“Extended time series of Solar Activity Indices”) is presented. ESAI includes observational, synthetic and simulated sets to study solar magnetic field variations and their influence on the Earth. ESAI extends the ordinary lengths of some traditional indices, parameterizing time variations of physically different characteristics of solar activity. In particular, long-term sets of the following indices are presented: sunspot areas, the Wolf numbers, polar faculae numbers, sunspot mean latitudes and north-south asymmetry of hemispheres for different components of activity. Some methods for making correct conclusions from incomplete data and some criteria to estimate the reliability of the obtained information are discussed.