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Sunspot Numbers and Areas from the Madrid Astronomical Observatory (1876 – 1986)

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Abstract

The solar program of the Astronomical Observatory of Madrid started in 1876. Observations were made in this institution to determine sunspot numbers and areas for ten solar cycles. The program was completed in 1986 and the resulting data have been published in various Spanish scientific publications. Four periods of this program (with different observers and instruments) were identified with the aid of the interesting metadata that has been made available. In the present work, the published data were retrieved and digitized. Their subsequent analysis showed that most of these data could be considered reliable given their very high correlation with reference indices (international sunspot number, group sunspot number, and sunspot area). An abrupt change emerged in the sunspots/groups ratio in 1946, which lasted until 1972.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by the library and archive staff of the Centro Territorial de la AEMET (Badajoz, Spain), the Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid (Madrid, Spain), the Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal), and the Real Observatorio de la Armada (San Fernando, Spain). J.M. Vaquero benefited from the impetus from participating in the Sunspot Number Workshops ( http://ssnworkshop.wikia.com/wiki/Home ). Support from the Junta de Extremadura (Research Group Grant No. GR10131), from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of the Spanish Government (AYA2011-25945), and from the COST Action ES1005 TOSCA ( http://www.tosca-cost.eu ) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

    A. J. P. Aparicio, J. M. Vaquero, V. M. S. Carrasco & M. C. Gallego

  2. Centro de Geofísica de Évora, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal

    V. M. S. Carrasco

Authors
  1. A. J. P. Aparicio
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  2. J. M. Vaquero
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  3. V. M. S. Carrasco
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  4. M. C. Gallego
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. M. Vaquero.

Appendix

Appendix

Bibliographic references of the papers containing original sunspot number and area data from the solar observations of the Madrid Astronomical Observatory are listed in this appendix. We use the following abbreviations: Anales de la Sociedad Española de Física y Química (ASEFQ), Anuario del Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid (AOAM), Astronomischen Mitteilungen von Rudolf Wolf (AMRW), and Boletín Astronómico del Observatorio de Madrid (BAOM).

1.1 First period

  • Ventosa, V.: 1876, Astron. Nachr. 88, 285 – 286 and 299 – 300.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1878, AMRW XLVI, 188 – 190.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1879, AMRW XLIX, 259 – 261.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1881, AMRW LII, 54 – 55.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1882, AMRW LV, 164 – 165.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1883, AMRW LIX, 346 – 347.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1884, AMRW LXII, 94 – 95.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1885, AMRW LXIV, 168 – 169.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1886, AMRW LXVII, 307 – 308.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1887, AMRW LXIX, 355 – 356.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1888, AMRW LXXI, 21 – 22.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1889, AMRW LXXIII, 116 – 117.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1890, AMRW LXXVI, 241 – 242.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1891, AMRW LXXVIII, 309 – 310.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1892, AMRW LXXX, 388 – 389.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1893, AMRW LXXXII, 61 – 62.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1894, AMRW LXXXIV, 130 – 131.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1895, AMRW LXXXVI, 224 – 225.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1896, AMRW LXXXVII, 251.

  • Ventosa, V.: 1897, AMRW LXXXVIII, 278.

1.2 Second period

  • Fernández Ascarza, V., Reig Soler, G.: 1903, ASEFQ 1, 52 – 60 and 242 – 245.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1906, AOAM 1907, 431 – 449.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1907, AOAM 1908, 313 – 327.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1908, AOAM 1909, 295 – 309.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1909, AOAM 1910, 315 – 327.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1910, AOAM 1911, 451 – 465.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1911, AOAM 1912, 309 – 317.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1912, AOAM 1913, 485 – 491.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1913, AOAM 1914, 367 – 375.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1914, AOAM 1915, 473 – 479.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1916, AOAM 1917, 437 – 494.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1917a, AOAM 1918, 413 – 488.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1917b, ASEFQ XV, 23 – 29.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1918, AOAM 1919, 415 – 512.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1919, AOAM 1920, 389 – 458.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1920, AOAM 1921, 313 – 354.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1921, AOAM 1922, 439 – 466.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1922, AOAM 1923, 619 – 625.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1923, AOAM 1924, 351 – 356.

  • Aguilar, M.: 1924, AOAM 1925, 459 – 463.

1.3 Third period

  • Carrasco, R., Aguilar Stuyck, M.: 1932, BAOM I(2), 7 – 8.

  • Carrasco, R., Aguilar Stuyck, M.: 1932, BAOM I(3), 6 – 8.

  • Carrasco, R., Aguilar Stuyck, M.: 1932, BAOM I(5), 5 – 6.

  • Carrasco, R., Aguilar Stuyck, M.: 1932, BAOM I(7), 5 – 6.

  • Carrasco, R., Aguilar Stuyck, M.: 1932, BAOM I(8), 8.

  • Carrasco, R., Aguilar Stuyck, M.: 1932, BAOM I(9), 7 – 8.

  • Carrasco, R., Aguilar Stuyck, M.: 1933, BAOM I(10), 7 – 8.

  • Carrasco, R., Santaló, M.: 1933, BAOM I(11), 7 – 8.

  • Carrasco, R., Santaló, M.: 1933, BAOM I(14), 5 – 6.

  • Carrasco, R., Santaló, M.: 1933, BAOM I(15), 5 – 7.

  • Carrasco, R.: 1934, BAOM I(18), 4 – 6.

  • Carrasco, R.: 1934, BAOM I(19), 4 – 6.

  • Carrasco, R.: 1934, BAOM I(20), 4 – 6.

1.4 Fourth period

  • Gullón, E.: 1936, Revista de la Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de Madrid XXXIII(1), 88 – 91.

  • Gullón, E.: 1936, BAOM II(4), 33 – 34.

  • Gullón, E., Martín Lorón, M.: 1941, BAOM II(7), 42 – 47.

  • Gullón, E.: 1942, BAOM II(8), 45 – 52.

  • Gullón, E.: 1943, BAOM II(10), 22 – 28.

  • Gullón, E., Martín Lorón, M.: 1944, BAOM III(1), 14 – 16.

  • Gullón, E.: 1944, BAOM III(2), 22 – 43.

  • Gullón, E.: 1945, BAOM III(3), 1 – 23.

  • Gullón, E.: 1946, BAOM III(4), 1 – 26.

  • Gullón, E.: 1946, BAOM III(6), 43 – 67.

  • Gullón, E.: 1947, BAOM III(7), 34 – 60.

  • Gullón, E.: 1948, BAOM III(8), 33 – 61.

  • Gullón, E.: 1949, BAOM IV(1), 33 – 62.

  • Gullón, E.: 1950, BAOM IV(2 – 3), 45 – 71 and 115 – 142.

  • Gullón, E.: 1951, BAOM IV(4), 39 – 67.

  • Gullón, E.: 1952, BAOM IV(5), 45 – 72.

  • Gullón, E.: 1953, BAOM IV(6), 41 – 49.

  • Gullón, E.: 1954, BAOM IV(7), 47 – 106.

  • Gullón, E.: 1955, BAOM IV(8), 45 – 101.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1956, BAOM V(1), 47 – 117.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1957, BAOM V(2), 61 – 216.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1958, BAOM V(3), 11 – 66.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1959, BAOM V(4), 25 – 94.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1960, BAOM V(5), 1 – 60.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1961, BAOM V(6), 1 – 42.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1962, BAOM VI(1), 1 – 41.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1963, BAOM VI(2), 1 – 38.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1964, BAOM VI(3), 1 – 35.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1965, BAOM VI(4), 1 – 34.

  • Gullón, E., López Arroyo, M.: 1966, BAOM VI(5), 1 – 36.

  • Gullón, E.: 1967, BAOM VI(6), 7 – 58.

  • Gullón, E.: 1968, BAOM VII(2), 3 – 105.

  • Gullón, E.: 1969, BAOM VII(4), 3 – 73.

  • Pensado, J.: 1971, BAOM VII(6), 3 – 66.

  • Pensado, J.: 1972, BAOM VIII(1), 3 – 66.

  • Pensado, J.: 1973, BAOM VIII(4), 3 – 58.

  • Pensado, J.: 1974, BAOM VIII(6), 3 – 50.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1975, BAOM IX(1), 3 – 46.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1976, BAOM IX(3), 3 – 47.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1976, BAOM IX(4), 3 – 40.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1977, BAOM X(1), 23 – 58.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1978, BAOM X(2), 3 – 40.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1979, BAOM X(3), 29 – 93.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1981, BAOM X(4), 3 – 77.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1982, BAOM X(5), 3 – 74.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1983, BAOM XI(1), 88 – 149.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1983, BAOM XI(2), 26 – 76.

  • López Arroyo, M.: 1985, BAOM XI(4), 25 – 65.

  • López Arroyo, M., Gil, A.: 1986, BAOM XI(5), 87 – 120.

  • López Arroyo, M., Gil, A.: 1987, BAOM XI(6), 91 – 119.

  • Gil, A.: 1988, BAOM XII(1), 45 – 78.

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Aparicio, A.J.P., Vaquero, J.M., Carrasco, V.M.S. et al. Sunspot Numbers and Areas from the Madrid Astronomical Observatory (1876 – 1986). Sol Phys 289, 4335–4349 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-014-0567-x

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