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The Solar Activity Cycle pp 35–103Cite as

Revisiting the Sunspot Number

A 400-Year Perspective on the Solar Cycle

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Part of the Space Sciences Series of ISSI book series (SSSI,volume 53)

Abstract

Our knowledge of the long-term evolution of solar activity and of its primary modulation, the 11-year cycle, largely depends on a single direct observational record: the visual sunspot counts that retrace the last 4 centuries, since the invention of the astronomical telescope. Currently, this activity index is available in two main forms: the International Sunspot Number initiated by R. Wolf in 1849 and the Group Number constructed more recently by Hoyt and Schatten (Sol. Phys. 179:189–219, 1998a, 181:491–512, 1998b). Unfortunately, those two series do not match by various aspects, inducing confusions and contradictions when used in crucial contemporary studies of the solar dynamo or of the solar forcing on the Earth climate. Recently, new efforts have been undertaken to diagnose and correct flaws and biases affecting both sunspot series, in the framework of a series of dedicated Sunspot Number Workshops. Here, we present a global overview of our current understanding of the sunspot number calibration.

After retracing the construction of those two composite series, we present the new concepts and methods used to self-consistently re-calibrate the original sunspot series. While the early part of the sunspot record before 1800 is still characterized by large uncertainties due to poorly observed periods, the more recent sunspot numbers are mainly affected by three main inhomogeneities: in 1880–1915 for the Group Number and in 1947 and 1980–2014 for the Sunspot Number.

After establishing those new corrections, we then consider the implications on our knowledge of solar activity over the last 400 years. The newly corrected series clearly indicates a progressive decline of solar activity before the onset of the Maunder Minimum, while the slowly rising trend of the activity after the Maunder Minimum is strongly reduced, suggesting that by the mid 18th century, solar activity had already returned to levels equivalent to those observed in recent solar cycles in the 20th century. We finally conclude with future prospects opened by this epochal revision of the Sunspot Number, the first one since Wolf himself, and its reconciliation with the Group Number, a long-awaited modernization that will feed solar cycle research into the 21st century.

Keywords

  • Sun
  • Sunspots
  • Sunspot Number
  • Solar cycle
  • Solar activity

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. World Data Center SILSO, Observatoire Royal de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium

    Frédéric Clette

  2. W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Leif Svalgaard

  3. Departamento de Física, Universidad de Extremadura, Mérida, Spain

    José M. Vaquero

  4. National Solar Observatory, Sunspot, NM, USA

    Edward W. Cliver

Authors
  1. Frédéric Clette
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  2. Leif Svalgaard
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  3. José M. Vaquero
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  4. Edward W. Cliver
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frédéric Clette .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

    André Balogh

  2. Space Sciences Lab, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

    Hugh Hudson

  3. Department of Astronomy, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary

    Kristóf Petrovay

  4. International Space Science Institute, Bern, Switzerland

    Rudolf von Steiger

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Clette, F., Svalgaard, L., Vaquero, J.M., Cliver, E.W. (2015). Revisiting the Sunspot Number. In: Balogh, A., Hudson, H., Petrovay, K., von Steiger, R. (eds) The Solar Activity Cycle. Space Sciences Series of ISSI, vol 53. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2584-1_3

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