On the rotation of large-scale background fields in the 21st cycle of solar activity

Abstract

We study some peculiarities of the time variation of dipole components in the longitudinal field distribution in individual low-latitude belts of the Sun. For analyzing the horizontal dipole rotation and variations of amplitudes we used magnetic and Hα data.

From 1979 to 1981 the rotation of the dipoles of the northern and southern low-latitude belts (0°–30° N and 10°–40° S) occurs with periods of about 26.8 days (N) and 28.2 days (S), in agreement with the results reported by Antonucci, Hoeksema, and Scherrer (1990) and Hoeksema and Scherrer (1987). A uniform rotation of the low-latitude dipoles of these belts continued until the end of 1981. Following the next coincidence of the magnetic poles in longitude the dipoles change in their rotation character. During about 15–20 rotations the low-latitude dipoles co-rotate with a new period close to the Carrington period. This is followed by a rapid (in 3–5 rotations) transition of the poles to a new stable state, also with the Carrington rotation period. The change in rotation and dynamics of the low-latitude dipoles at the end of 1981-beginning of 1982 can be explained either by a mutual penetration of the fields of different hemispheres to the opposite hemisphere or by the onset of the formation of relatively shortlived (15–20 rotations) structures which cover the entire low-latitude belt.

Unlike the trajectories of the poles, the dipole amplitudes of the low-latitude belts showed a significant variability. However, simultaneous increases of the amplitudes in both hemispheres correlated with times at which the dipole poles coincide in longitude, and the greatest increase corresponded to the moment of ‘merging’ of the dipole poles early in 1982. This suggests that sources of large-scale structures of the background field in the low-latitude belts of the Sun or the related fields interacted when the dipole poles coincided.