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Frequency Modulation as a Cause of Additional Branches of the Gleissberg Cycle in Solar Activity

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Abstract

Of the solar-activity cycles with a period exceeding 22 years, the secular cycle, known as the Gleissberg cycle, attracts the most attention from researchers. In this paper, using the Fourier and wavelet analysis methods, we study the cyclicity of solar activity expressed by the sunspot number SN reconstructed from different sources (the length of the series is up to ~12 000 years) in the range of periods of the Gleissberg cycle. It was found that the Gleissberg cycle consists of three distinguished branches with average periods of 60, 88, and 140 years. The nature of the amplitude variation of all three branches is identical, which indicates that they are part of one quasi-periodic process. The analysis showed that the 88-year cycle is the main cycle. Its source is the solar dynamo. The 60- and 140-year cycles are the result of frequency modulation of the main cycle by a process with a period of 224 years (Suess cycle). A model that confirms and explains this result has been developed. The Suess cycle, which is a frequency modulator of the Gleissberg cycle, most likely has an extrasolar origin. Our results do not support the hypothesis of a chaotic Sun, which is indicative of a more regular, quasi-periodic behavior of the solar dynamo.

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  1. Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Wave Propagation, St. Petersburg Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    N. G. Ptitsyna & I. M. Demina

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Translated by E. Morozov

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Ptitsyna, N.G., Demina, I.M. Frequency Modulation as a Cause of Additional Branches of the Gleissberg Cycle in Solar Activity. Geomagn. Aeron. 61 (Suppl 1), S48–S61 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793222010169

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