New standpoints in long-term solar cycle evolution: a review
Abstract
The sunspot number series forms the longest directly observed index of solar activity and allows to trace its variations on the time scale of about 400 years since 1610. This time interval covers a wide range from seemingly vanishing sunspots during the Maunder minimum in 1645-1700 to the very high activity during the last 500 years. Although the sunspot number series has been studied for more than a century, new interesting features can still be found. This paper gives a review of the recent achievements and findings in long-term evolution of solar activity cycles such as determinism and chaos in sunspot cyclicity, cycles during the Maunder minimum, scenario of a great minimum, the phase catastrophe and the lost cycle in the beginning of the Dalton minimum in 1790s and persistent 22-year cyclicity. These findings shed new light on the underlying physical processes responsible for the sunspot activity and allow for better understanding of such empirical rules as Gnevyshev-Ohl rule and Waldmeier relations.
- Publication:
-
Solar Variability as an Input to the Earth's Environment
- Pub Date:
- September 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003ESASP.535...25U
- Keywords:
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- Solar Activity;
- Solar Cycle