Abstract
The evolution of the photospheric magnetic field during the declining phase and minimum of cycle 23 and the recent rise of cycle 24 are compared with the behavior during previous cycles. We used longitudinal full-disk magnetograms from the NSO’s three magnetographs at Kitt Peak, the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS) vector spectro-magnetograph (VSM), the spectro-magnetograph and the 512-channel magnetograph instruments, and longitudinal full-disk magnetograms from the Mt. Wilson 150-foot tower. We analyzed 37 years of observations from these two observatories that have been observing daily, weather permitting, since 1974, offering an opportunity to study the evolving relationship between the active region and polar fields in some detail over several solar cycles. It is found that the annual averages of a proxy for the active region poloidal magnetic field strength, the magnetic field strength of the high-latitude poleward streams, and the time derivative of the polar field strength are all well correlated in each hemisphere. The active region net poloidal fields effectively disappeared in both hemispheres around 2004 and the polar fields have not become significantly stronger since this time. These results are based on statistically significant cyclical patterns in the active region fields and are consistent with the Babcock–Leighton phenomenological model for the solar activity cycle. There was more hemispheric asymmetry in the total and maximum active region flux during late cycle 23 (after around 2004), when the southern hemisphere was more active, and the rise of cycle 24, when the northern hemisphere was more active, than at any other time since 1974. We see evidence that the process of cycle 24 field reversal has begun at both poles.
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Acknowledgements
I thank the referee for helpful comments. I thank Jack Harvey (NSO) and Roger Ulrich (UCLA) for help in accessing their data sets, for comments and corrections regarding the manuscript, and for article references. I thank Alexei Pevtsov and Giuliana de Toma for discussions and Luca Bertello for help in accessing the Mt. Wilson data set. SOLIS data used here are produced cooperatively by NSF/NSO and NASA/LWS. NSO/Kitt Peak 512-channel and SPMG data used here were produced cooperatively by NSF/NOAO, NASA/GSFC, and NOAA/SEL. This study includes data from the synoptic program at the 150-Foot Solar Tower of the Mt. Wilson Observatory. The Mt. Wilson 150-Foot Solar Tower is operated by UCLA, with funding from NASA, ONR, and NSF, under agreement with the Mt. Wilson Institute.
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Petrie, G.J.D. Evolution of Active and Polar Photospheric Magnetic Fields During the Rise of Cycle 24 Compared to Previous Cycles. Sol Phys 281, 577–598 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-012-0117-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-012-0117-3