The Extended Solar Cycle Tracked High into the Corona

Abstract

We present observations of the extended solar cycle activity in white-light coronagraphs, and compare them with the more familiar features seen in the Fe XIV green-line corona. We show that the coronal activity zones seen in the emission corona can be tracked high into the corona. The peak latitude of the activity, which occurs near solar maximum, is found to be very similar at all heights. But we find that the equatorward drift of the activity zones is faster at greater heights, and that during the declining phase of the solar cycle, the lower branch of activity (that associated with the current cycle) disappears at about 3 Ro. This implies that that during the declining phase of the cycle, the solar wind detected near Earth is likely to be dominated by the next cycle. The so-called "rush to the poles" is also seen in the higher corona. In the higher corona it is found to start at a similar time but at lower latitudes than in the green-line corona. The structure is found to be similar to that of the equatorward drift.

16 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Coronal Fe XIV Emission During the Whole Heliosphere Interval Campaign

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Deciphering Solar Magnetic Activity I: On The Relationship Between The Sunspot Cycle And The Evolution Of Small Magnetic Features
• Signatures of Solar Cycle 25 in Subsurface Zonal Flows
• Precursors of an upcoming solar cycle at high latitudes from coronal green line data
• Deciphering Solar Magnetic Activity: 140 Years Of The `Extended Solar Cycle' -- Mapping the Hale Cycle
• Signature of Extended Solar Cycles as Detected from Ca II K Synoptic Maps of Kodaikanal and Mount Wilson Observatory