Evolutions of various solar indices around sunspot maximum and sunspot minimum years

Abstract. The smoothed monthly sunspot numbers showed that in many solar cycles, (a) during years around sunspot maxima, there was only one prominent maximum, but in some cycles there was a broad plateau. If the beginning and end of these are termed as first and second maxima (separated by several months), the first maximum was generally the higher one, and the valley in between was very shallow. Solar indices at or near the photosphere generally showed similar structures with maxima matching with sunspot maxima within a month or two. Indices originating in the chromosphere and above showed two peaks in roughly the same months as sunspots (with some exceptions, notably the Coronal green line, and the Total Solar Irradiance). Yet often, the second maximum was larger than the first maximum, and the valley between the two maxima was deeper, as compared to sunspot maxima, and (b) during years around sunspot minima, the smoothed sunspot minimum could be sharp and distinct, lasting for a month or two, or could spread over several months. Among the indices originating at or near the photosphere, the Ca K line intensity showed good matching with sunspots, but the Ca Plage area, the Sunspot Group Area, and the solar magnetic fields seemed to show minima earlier than the sunspots, indicating that these activities died out first. These also showed recoveries from the minima later than sunspots. Most of the other indices originating in the chromosphere and corona attained minima coincident with sunspot minima, but in some cases, minima earlier than sunspots were seen, while in some other cases minima occurred after the sunspot minima. Thus, the energy dissipation in the upper part of the solar atmosphere sometimes lagged or led the evolution of sunspots near sunspot minimum. In a few cases, after the minimum, the indices recovered faster than the sunspots. In general, the chromospheric indices seemed to evolve similar to sunspots, but the evolution of coronal indices was not always similar to sunspots, and may differ considerably between themselves.

Key words. Solar physics, astrophysics and astronomy (Corona and transition region; Magnetic fields; Photosphere and chromosphere)