The analysis of the characteristics of variation and change patterns of sunspot cycles

The paper focus on the variation character of sunspot number and solar cycles based on the new version sunspot number (SSN) data. According to seven main variables describing solar cycles, including peak value, the length of cycle, the length of ascending phase, the ratio of the ascending time to the descending time, slope, half width, and area under the curve of solar cycle, clustering, principal component and factor analysis, are applied to analyze variation characteristic and patterns of the 24 solar cycles. We cluster these 24 cycles to find groups in these solar cycles, and search for the main factor determining strength, length and occurrence time of the peak, and the furthest cycle from the average. The cycles within a cluster will be similar or related to one another and different from or unrelated to the cycles in other clusters. These results could help us search for similar cycles conveniently, obtain the understanding of the characteristics of solar cycle variation and analysis of sunspot number change and evolution characteristics, and analyze the origin and the variation mechanism of solar cycle.