English

Solar Cycle Observations

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2023-09-29 v2

Abstract

We describe the defining observations of the solar cycle that provide constraints for the dynamo processes operating within the Sun. Specifically, we report on the following topics: historical sunspot numbers and revisions; active region (AR) flux ranges and lifetimes; bipolar magnetic region tilt angles; Hale and Joy's law; the impact of rogue ARs on cycle progression and the amplitude of the following cycle; the spatio-temporal emergence of ARs that creates the butterfly diagram; polar fields; large-scale flows including zonal, meridional, and AR in-flows; short-term cycle variability; and helioseismic results including mode parameter changes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2305.19803,
  title  = {Solar Cycle Observations},
  author = {Aimee Norton and Rachel Howe and Lisa Upton and Ilya Usoskin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.19803},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

39 pages, 11 figures, ISSI workshop on Solar and Stellar Dynamos (June 2022). Submitted to Space Science Reviews, May 2023. This is the revised version accepted September 2023

R2 v1 2026-06-28T10:51:56.179Z