• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.99-99
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• 2011

A statistical study of coronal hole merging and splitting has been performed through Solar Cycle 23. The NOAA/SESC solar synoptic maps are examined to identify inarguably clear events of coronal hole merging and splitting. The numbers of merging events and splitting events are more or less comparable regardless of the phase in the solar cycle. The number of both events, however, definitely shows the phase dependence in the solar cycle. It apparently has a minimum at the solar minimum whereas its maximum is located in the declining phase of the sunspot activity, about a year after the second peak in Solar Cycle 23. There are more events of merging and splitting in the descending phase than in the ascending phase. Interestingly, no event is found at the local minimum between the two peaks of the sunspot activity. This trend can be compared with the variation of the average magnetic field strength and the radial field component in the solar wind through the solar cycle. In Ulysses observations, both of these quantities have a minimum at the solar minimum while their maximum is located in the descending phase, a while after the second peak of the sunspot activity. At the local minimum between the two peaks in the solar cycle, the field strength and the radial component both have a shallow local minimum or an inflection point. At the moment, the physical reason for these resembling tendencies is difficult to understand with existing theories. Seeing that merging and splitting of coronal holes are possible by passage of opposite polarity magnetic structures, we may suggest that the energizing activities in the solar surface such as motions of flux tubes are not exactly in phase with sunspot generation, but are more active some time after the sunspot maximum.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.spc1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2003

We have studied the magnetic helicity of active regions by using the data from (1) the photo-electric magnetograph of the Okayama Observatory (1983-1995) and (2) the video magnetograph of NAOJ/Mitaka (1992-2000). The latitude distribution of helicity showed a tendency that the regions in the north (south) hemisphere have negative (positive) helicities, respectively, which is already known as the hemispheric sign rule. If we look into the sign of helicity as a function of time, the sign rule was less definite or was reversed sometimes in the sunspot minimum phase. We also studied the relation between the magnetic helicity and the sunspot tilt angles, and found that these two quantities are positively correlated, which is opposite to the expectation of a theoretical model. The implications of this cycle-phase dependence of helicity signs and the correlation between magnetic he Ii city and sunspot tilt angles are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.spc1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2003

In an early paper Skumanich suggested the existence of a scaling law relating the mean sunspot magnetic field with the square-root of the photospheric pressure. This was derived from an analysis of a variety of theoretical spot models including those by Yun (1968). These were based on the Schliiter-Temesvary (S- T) similarity assumption. To answer criticisms that such modeling may have unphysical (non-axial maxima) solutions, the S-T model was revisited, Moon et al. (1998), with an improved vector potential function. We consider here the consequences of this work for the scaling relation. We show that by dimensionalizing the lateral force balance equation for the S- T model one finds that a single parameter enters as a characteristic value of the solution. This parameter yields Skumanich's scaling directly. Using an observed universal flux-radius relation for dark solar magnetic features (spots and pores) for comparison, we find good to fair agreement with Yun's characteristic value, however the Moon et al. values deviate significantly.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.135-142
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• 2006

The extension of sunspot number series and auroral observations backward in time is of considerable interest for dynamo theory, solar activity and climate research. It was known that the Maunder minimum corresponded to a unusual cold so called little ice age in Europe and the appearance of sunspot had a close relation to the occurrence of aurora. Therefore we have examined ancient records of sunspots and aurorae with indirect solar proxies during this period and have studied for the features and peculiarities of solar activity with the relation of the climate variation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.67.2-67.2
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• 2016

The Sun has diverse variations in solar atmosphere's layers due to solar activity. This solar variations can be recognized easily by sunspots which appear on the solar photosphere. Thus the sunspot on the photosphere is utilized by direct index of the solar activity. The other variation of the photosphere is center-to-limb variation (CLV). In this study, we analyze the relative intensity observed by SOHO, SDO. The data of photospheric intensity are from full disk images of SOHO/MDI intensity ($6768{\AA}$, from May 1994 to March 2011) and of SDO/HMI intensity ($6173-6174{\AA}$, from May 2010 to June 2016). As the result, we found the latitudinal variation of the intensity. The daily photospheric intensity showed the solar cyclic variation with sunspot number. It has a little difference of phase with sunspot number.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.317-319
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• 1996

Utilizing a Calcium filter, a large two ribbon flare of an importance 2.5Xj31? was recorded at. King Abdul-Aziz University Solar Observatory (KAAUSO) at the 30th of October 1991. This chromosphenc flare observation, which is of special importance since it is rarely reported, was for a flare that occurred near the south west of the equator at the vicinity of a large sunspot group on an active region known as AR 6891. The observed foot points of this flare had a strange behavior in which the separating motion of the ribbons were not typical of most flares, rather were nearly orthogonal. In this article we present the characteristics of the main sunspot group of this active region and try to investigate its evolution and fragmentation with time. Information regarding magnetic fields and velocity fields are necessary to understand the restructuring of the magnetic field pattern and plasma motion, and hence the changes that could lead to the occurrence of such an interesting flare.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.125-135
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• 2023

Here, we investigated the observed sunspot areas with respect to latitudes using the Hilbert transform technique. Conventional study of the cyclic patterns of sunspots is based on the Lomb-Scargle periodogram, which only obtains the amplitude information. In comparison, our approach characterizes the amplitude as well as the phase of solar activity. We demonstrated the solar North-South asymmetry in the instantaneous amplitude by analyzing daily sunspot data set spanning from the solar cycles 11 to 24. Our findings confirm that the northern hemisphere is dominant in the solar cycles 14, 15, 16, 18, and 20. Unlike the amplitude, the North-South asymmetry in the period of solar activity could not be established. We have also found that the standard deviation as a measure of fluctuation in the phase derivative is minimum in the latitude band 10° < l < 20°, and the fluctuations obtained for latitudes above 30° are considerable.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.55-58
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• 1978

An extensive molecular equilibrium calculation has been performed under sunspot conditions in order to resolve the current dispute on the presence of $C_2$ lines in the spectrum of sunspots. Equilibrium abundance of $C_2$ has been computed under the conditions of umbral cores, umbrae and the normal photosphere. As the results, it is found that the umbral cores yield unfavorable environment for $C_2$ formation. It is concluded that $C_2$ molecular lines are not likely tn be observed in the spectrum of sunspots.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.245-253
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• 1995

We have analyzed the time series of Ca II H,K and ${\lambda}8498$ line profiles taken for a sunspot (SPO 5007) with the Echelle spectrograph attached to Vacuum Tower Telescope at Sacramento Peak Solar Observatory. Each set of spectra was taken simultaneously for 20 minutes at a time interval of 30 seconds. A total of 40 photographic films for each line was scanned by a PDS at Korea Astronomy Observatory. The central peak intensity of Ca II H ($I_{max}$), the intensity measured at ${\Delta}{\lambda}=-0.1{\AA}$ from the line center of ${\lambda}8498(I_{{\lambda}8489})$, the radial velocity ($V_r$) and the Doppler width (${\Delta}{\lambda}_D$) estimated from Ca II H have been measured to study the dynamical behaviors of the sunspot chromosphere. Fourier analysis has been carried out for these measured quantities. Our main results are as follows: (1) We have confirmed the 3-minute oscillation being dominant throughout the umbra. The period of oscillations jumps from 180 sec in the umbra to 500 to 1000 sec in the penumbra. (2) The nonlinear character of the umbral oscillation is noted from the observed sawtooth shaped radial velocity fluctuations with amplitudes reaching up to $5{\sim}6\;km/sec$. (3) The spatial distribution of the maximum powers shows that the power of oscillations is stronger in the umbra than in the penumbra. (4) The spatial distributions of the time averaged < $I_{max}$ > and < $V_r$ > across the spot are found to be nearly axially symmetric, implying that the physical quantities derived from the line profiles of Ca II H and ${\lambda}8498$ are inherently associated with the geometry of the magnetic field distribution of the spot. (5) The central peaks of the CaII H emission core lead the upward motions of the umbral atmosphere by $90^{\circ}$, while no phase delay is found in intensities between $I_{max}$ and $I_{{\lambda}8498}$, suggesting that the umbral oscillation is of standing waves.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.261-265
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• 2011

We investigate the sunspot area data spanning from solar cycles 1 (March 1755) to 23 (December 2010) in time domain. For this purpose, we employ the Hilbert transform analysis method, which is used in the field of information theory. One of the most important advantages of this method is that it enables the simultaneous study of associations between the amplitude and the phase in various timescales. In this pilot study, we adopt the alternating sunspot area as a function of time, known as Bracewell transformation. We first calculate the instantaneous amplitude and the instantaneous phase. As a result, we confirm a ~22-year periodic behavior in the instantaneous amplitude. We also find that a behavior of the instantaneous amplitude with longer periodicities than the ~22-year periodicity can also be seen, though it is not as straightforward as the obvious ~22-year periodic behavior revealed by the method currently proposed. In addition to these, we note that the phase difference apparently correlates with the instantaneous amplitude. On the other hand, however, we cannot see any obvious association of the instantaneous frequency and the instantaneous amplitude. We conclude by briefly discussing the current status of development of an algorithm for the solar activity forecast based on the method presented, as this work is a part of that larger project.