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Joy’s law and its features according to the data of three sunspot catalogs

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Abstract

This paper investigates the trend towards an increase in the tilt of sunspot groups with increasing latitude (Joy’s law) and the relationship between the features of this law and solar activity parameters. In addition to the known data of the Mount Wilson and Kodaikanal observatories, the analysis uses the Pulkovo database of solar activity, which allows for the estimation of the reliability of the conclusions obtained by other authors from the first two catalogs. It is shown that Joy’s law is manifested in all three data series and has many features in common. In particular at latitudes above 25–30°, the tilt of sunspot groups is not linearly dependent on latitude and displays a slight decrease. However, some features of this law found previously in the data of the first two observatories (e.g., a decrease in its strength with an increase in the strength of the solar cycle) are not confirmed by our analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central (Pulkovo) Astronomical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovo, Russia

    V. G. Ivanov

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  1. V. G. Ivanov
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Correspondence to V. G. Ivanov.

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Ivanov, V.G. Joy’s law and its features according to the data of three sunspot catalogs. Geomagn. Aeron. 52, 999–1004 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793212080130

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793212080130

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