Abstract
According to a model of sunspot dissipation through a thin boundary layer between the sunspot magnetic flux tube and the surrounding medium, the rate of decrease in the sunspot area must slow as the spot size decreases until it reaches a critical threshold at which the linear law of sunspot dissipation gives way to a nonlinear one. This theoretically predicted effect is confirmed with SOHO/MDI data, which have a high spatial and temporal resolution in comparison with ground-based observations. This work confirms the dissipation slowdown effect in small sunspots. It is reported that the nonlinear dissipation phase derived from discrete receiver (charge-coupled device, CCD) data is somewhat flatter and more diffuse than that derived from continuous radiation receiver data (photographic plates).
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Baranyi, T., Győri, L., and Ludmány, A., Tools for solar data compiled at the Debrecen observatory and their extensions with the Greenwich sunspot data, Sol. Phys., 2016, vol. 291, pp. 3081–3102.
Bray R.J. and Loughhead, R.E., Sunspots, London: Chapman and Hall, 1964.
Cowling, T.G., The growth and decay of the sunspot magnetic field, Mon. Not. R. Acad. Sci., 1946, vol. 106, pp. 218–224.
Cowling, T.G., The Sun, The Solar System, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.
Gokhale, M.H. and Zwaan, C., The structure of sunspots. I: Observational constraints: Current sheet models, Sol. Phys., 1972, vol. 26, pp. 52–75.
Lozitska, N.I., Lozitsky, V.G., Andreyeva, O.A., et al., Methodical problems of magnetic field measurements in umbra of sunspots, Adv. Space Res., 2014, vol. 55, pp. 897–907.
Meyer, F., Schmidt, H.U., Wilson, P.R., and Weiss, N.O., The growth and decay of sunspots, Mon. Not. R. Acad. Sci., 1974, vol. 169, pp. 35–57.
Priest, E.R., Solar Magnetohydrodynamics, Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1982.
Rachkovsky, D.N., Tsap, T.T., and Lozitsky, V.G., Small-scale magnetic field diagnostics outside sunspots: Comparison of different methods, J. Astrophys. Astron., 2005, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 435–445.
Solov’ev, A.A., The problem of sunspot dissipation, Soln. Dannye, 1976, no. 7, pp. 83–88.
Solov’ev, A.A., Area and magnetic field of a sunspot during slow dissipation, Sov. Astron., 1991, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 306–309.
Solov’ev, A.A. and Kirichek, E.A., Basic properties of sunspots: Equilibrium, stability and eigen oscillations, Astrophys. Space Sci., 2014, vol. 352, no. 1, pp. 23–42.
Solov’ev, A.A. and Kuznetsova, M.A., Sunspot shadow area decrease during the stage of regular dissipation, Trudy IX Pulkovskoi konferentsii po fizike Solntsa “Solnechnaya aktivnost' kak faktor kosmicheskoi pogody 2005” (Proceedings of the IX Pulkovo Conference on Solar Physics “Solar Activity as a Factor of Space Weather 2005”), St. Petersburg: GAO RAN, 2005, pp. 589–592.
Zelenyi, L.M. and Milovanov, A.V., Evolution of sunspots—the cluster model, Sov. Astron. Lett., 1992, vol. 18, pp. 249–251.
Funding
This work was supported by Program KP 19-270, by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project nos. 18-02-00168 and 18-32-00555), and by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 15-12-20 001).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Translated by A. Kobkova
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhivanovich, I., Solov’ev, A.A. Features of Slow Sunspot Dissipation. Geomagn. Aeron. 59, 1055–1061 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793219080279
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793219080279