The intensity contrast of solar photospheric faculae and network elements II. Evolution over the rising phase of solar cycle 23

Abstract

We studied the radiative properties of small magnetic elements (active region faculae and the network) during the rising phase of solar cycle 23 from 1996 to 2001, determining their contrasts as a function of heliocentric angle, magnetogram signal, and the solar cycle phase. We combined near-simultaneous full disk images of the line-of-sight magnetic field and photospheric continuum intensity provided by the MDI instrument on board the SOHO spacecraft. Sorting the magnetogram signal into different ranges allowed us to distinguish between the contrast of different magnetic structures. We find that the contrast center-to-limb variation (CLV) of these small magnetic elements is independent of time with a 10% precision, when measured during the rising phase of solar cycle 23. A 2-dimensional empirical expression for the contrast of photospheric features as a function of both the position on the disk and the averaged magnetic field strength was determined, showing its validity through the studied time period. A study of the relationship between magnetogram signal and the peak contrasts shows that the intrinsic contrast (maximum contrast per unit of magnetic flux) of network flux tubes is higher than that of active region faculae during the solar cycle.

11 pages, 6 figures, A&A in press

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Properties of sunspots in cycle 23: I. Dependence of brightness on sunspot size and cycle phase
• The brightness of magnetic field concentrations in the quiet Sun
• Photometric Properties of Network and Faculae Derived from HMI Data Compensated for Scattered-Light
• Intensity contrast of solar network and faculae -- II. Implications for solar irradiance modelling