Abstract
Using the McIntosh Archive of solar features, we analyze the evolution of coronal holes over more than three solar cycles. We demonstrate that coronal-hole positions and lifetimes change significantly on time scales from months to years, and that the pattern of these changes is clearly linked to the solar-activity cycle. We demonstrate that the lifetimes of low-latitude coronal holes are usually less than one rotation but may extend to almost three years. When plotted over time, the positions of low-latitude coronal holes that remain visible for over one rotation track the sunspot butterfly diagram in terms of their positions on the Sun over a solar cycle. Finally, we confirm that coronal holes do not in general rigidly rotate.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Beth Schmidt, Patrick McIntosh’s daughter, who allowed us to use her father’s work, and William Denig who gave us a home for the archive at NCEI. I.M. Hewins and R.H. McFadden thank the HAO for support during their visit and in particular the HAO Coffee and Tea group for all of their assistance. I.M. Hewins, D.F. Webb, R.H. McFadden, B.A. Emery, and T.A. Kuchar were supported by NSF RAPID grant 1540544 and NSF grant 1722727. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 1852977. Finally, we thank the reviewer for their assistance.
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Hewins, I.M., Gibson, S.E., Webb, D.F. et al. The Evolution of Coronal Holes over Three Solar Cycles Using the McIntosh Archive. Sol Phys 295, 161 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-020-01731-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-020-01731-y