The ratio between the number of sunspot and the number of sunspot groups

Abstract

Data from three solar observatories, Learmonth, Holloman, and San Vito, are used to study the variations in the average number of sunspots per sunspot group. It is found that the different types of sunspot groups and the number of sunspots in these groups have different solar cycle and cycle to cycle variations. The varying ratio between the average number of sunspots and the number of sunspot groups is shown to be a real feature and not a result of changing observational instruments, observers experience, calculation schemes, etc., and is a result of variations in the solar magnetic fields. Therefore, the attempts to minimize the discrepancies between the sunspot number and sunspot group series are not justified, and lead to the loss of important information about the variability of the solar dynamo.

arXiv comment7 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Revisiting the Sunspot Number
• Grand minima and maxima of solar activity: New observational constraints
• Reconstruction of the Sunspot Group Number: the Backbone Method
• Time Distributions of Large and Small Sunspot Groups Over Four Solar Cycles
• Long-Term Variations in Sunspot Characteristics
• About the recalibration of the sunspot record

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Solar cycle prediction
• Average annual total sunspot area in the last 410 years: The most probable values and limits of their uncertainties