La tasa de decaimiento del ciclo solar como indicador de actividad

BUCCINO, A.P.; MAUAS, P J D

Congreso; reunión Anual de la Asociación Argentina de Astronomía; 2001

Asociación Argentina de Astronomía

The length of the solar cycle has been linked to solar forcing of global climate. Usually, cycle length is defined as the time difference between consecutive sunspot minima. However, sunspot minima is determined both by the diminishing number of spots of the old cycle and by the increasing number of spots of the new one. Therefore, the date of the minimum depends on the properties of both cycles, and is generally ill defined. Furthermore, changes in solar activity should precede climatic changes. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the length of the cycle is related to changes in the Sun's convective energy transport, through the decay rate of individual sunspots. Here, using the concept of extended activity cycle, we define an activity index based on the decay rate of the cycle, and study its correlation with other indexes.