Adriana Garcia

The Gleissberg Cycle of Minima

In this short article we show that the sunspot cycle minima exhibit a long cycle (Gleissberg) in addition to the 11-yr cycle. From 1750 onwards, three periods of the Gleissberg cycle can be detected.

LONGITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FIELDS AND ACTIVITY DURING THE ENDING AND STARTING PERIODS OF ACTIVITY CYCLES

Studying the appearance of active regions during periods of solar activity minima, we observed that the magnetic fields of active regions belonging to the old and new cycle were mutually related. This was the reason we decided to investigate the relation of the old and new cycle activity during the two last minima in more detail. We examined the distribution of both activities in heliographic longitude, because the patterns of such distribution change substantially during the time of the minimum, and we studied their relation to the distribution and development of the global (background) magnetic field. We observed that the active regions of the old and new cycles tended to concentrate in the same active longitudes. The sources of their magnetic fluxes seem to have the same heliographic longitude. The beginning of the new cycle activity, occurring at the very beginning to a very weak degree in the equatorial zone, and then proceeding to higher latitudes, occurs in the magnetic field remnants of the old cycle activity. During the transition phase, a relatively large number of small active regions is produced by both cycles.

INTERPRETING THE LARGE LIMB ERUPTION OF JULY 9, 1982

A time series of K3 spectroheliograms taken at the Coimbra Observatory exhibits an erupting loop on the east limb on July 9, 1982 in active region NOAA 3804. The Goddard SMM Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer (HXRBS) observations taken during this period reveal a hard X-ray flare occurring just before the loop eruption is observed, and SMS-GOES soft X-ray observations reveal a strong long-duration event (LDE) following the impulsive phase of the flare. A Solwind coronagram exhibits a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the erupting loop. Hα flare and prominence observations as well as centimeter and decimeter radio observations of the event are also reviewed. A large, north–south-oriented quiescent prominence reported within the upper part of the CME expansion region may play a role in the eruption as well. The spatial and temporal correlations among these observations are examined in the light of two different current models for prominence eruption and CME activation: (1) The CME is triggered by the observed hard X-ray impulsive flare. (2) The CME is not triggered by a flare, and the observed soft X-ray flare is an LDE due to reconnection within the CME ‘bubble’. It is concluded that this event is probably of a ‘mixed’ type that combines characteristics of models (1) and (2). The July 9 event is then compared to three other energetic CME and flare eruptions associated with the same active-region complex, all occurring in the period July 9 through September 4, 1982. It is noted that these four energetic events coincide with the final evolutionary phase of a long-lasting active-region complex, which is discussed in a companion paper (Bumba, Garcia, and Jordan, 1997). The paper concludes by addressing ‘the solar flare myth’ controversy in the light of this work.

Chromospheric synoptic charts for the solar eclipse of November 3, 1994

The synoptic charts of the filaments and active regions near the solar limb are given for the eclipse of November 3, 1994, along with the positions of the prominences. A table helps to associate coronal and chromospheric structures.

Solar zonal average magnetic field and the latitudes of sunspot groups

Positions of active regions estimated from observations of the whole solar disk in CaiiKiv during the period 1977–1989 at the Coimbra Astronomical Observatory are compared with the time-dependent latitudinal distribution of background solar magnetic fields and with the latitudinal shifts of boundaries of their polarities. We confirm that the sunspot groups are located near the zonal boundaries between the opposite polarities of the solar background magnetic field during different phases of the two recent consecutive cycles of activity. We demonstrate a probable connection between the increased number of groups and the commencement of poleward migration of zonal boundaries in both hemispheres. But the influence of the ‘dominant convective rolls’ seems to he still unclear. A new problem of interrelation between the zonal and sector boundaries has also appeared.