Understanding the Role of the Polar Fields on the Propagation of the Solar Cycle
Abstract
In addition to the well known 11-year periodicity, the solar cycle also presents long-term modulations of its amplitude and period which play a determinant role in the evolution of space weather and climate. To this date, the efforts at understanding long-term solar variability have focused on the active parts of the cycle using sunspot properties as their main source of data. However, the recent extend minimum of sunspot cycle 23 has shown us that the quiet parts of the cycle are equally important and thus long-term databases complementary to sunspot properties are necessary. Here we use a homogeneous database of polar magnetic flux measurements going back to the beginning of the 20th century to study the role of the polar flux in the long-term evolution of the heliospheric magnetic field, as well as the relevance of the polar magnetic field for the evolution of the solar cycle. We demonstrate that the polar fields are crucial for the evolution of both types of magnetic field and how the results presented here lay the foundations for a new generation of sunspot cycle predictions.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMSH13C2263M
- Keywords:
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- 7536 SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY / Solar activity cycle;
- 7537 SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY / Solar and stellar variability;
- 7544 SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY / Stellar interiors and dynamo theory