Decay of Activity Complexes, Formation of Unipolar Magnetic Regions and Coronal Holes in their Causal Relation

North-south asymmetry of sunspot activity resulted in an asynchronous reversal of the Sun's polar fields in the current cycle. The asymmetry is also observed in the formation of polar coronal holes. A stable coronal hole was first formed at the South Pole, despite the later polar-field reversal...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Golubeva, Elena, Mordvinov, Alexander
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: arXiv 2016
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Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1610.01767
https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.01767
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Summary:North-south asymmetry of sunspot activity resulted in an asynchronous reversal of the Sun's polar fields in the current cycle. The asymmetry is also observed in the formation of polar coronal holes. A stable coronal hole was first formed at the South Pole, despite the later polar-field reversal there. The aim of this study is to understand processes making this situation possible. Synoptic magnetic maps from the Global Oscillation Network Group and corresponding coronal-hole maps from the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory are analyzed here to study a causal relationship between the decay of activity complexes, evolution of large-scale magnetic fields, and formation of coronal holes. Ensembles of coronal holes associated with decaying active regions and activity complexes are presented. These ensembles take part in global rearrangements of the Sun's open magnetic flux. In particular, the south polar coronal hole was formed from an ensemble of coronal holes that originated after the decay of multiple activity complexes observed during 2014. : The article is submitted to Solar Physics. John Leibacher, Editor-in-Chief, recommended submitting the manuscript to arXiv.org. Editorial modifications for the manuscript are made