Variation of Chromospheric Features as a Function of Latitude and Time Using Ca-K Spectroheliograms for Solar Cycles 15 – 23: Implications for Meridional Flow

Abstract

We have analyzed the Ca-K images obtained at Kodaikanal Observatory as a function of latitude and time for the period of 1913 – 2004 covering Solar Cycles 15 to 23. We have classified the chromospheric activity into plage, Enhanced Network (EN), Active Network (AN), and Quiet Network (QN) areas to differentiate between large strong active and small weak active regions. The strong active regions represent toroidal and weak active regions poloidal component of the magnetic field. We find that plage areas mostly up to $50^{\circ }$ latitude belt vary with about 11-year solar cycle. We also find that a weak activity represented by EN, AN and QN varies with about 11-year with significant amplitude up to about $50^{\circ}$ latitude in both hemispheres. The amplitude of the variation is minimum around $50^{\circ }$ latitude and again increases by a small amount in the polar region. In addition, the plots of plages, EN, AN and QN as functions of time indicate the maximum of activity at different latitude occur at different epoch. To determine the phase difference for the different latitude belts, we have computed the cross-correlation coefficients of other latitude belts with the $35^{\circ }$ latitude belt. We find that the activity shifts from mid-latitude belts towards equatorial belts at high speed at the beginning of a solar cycle and at lower speed as the cycle progresses. The speed of the shift varies between $\approx19$ and $3~\text{m}\,\text{s}^{-1}$ considering all the data for the observed period. This speed can be linked with the speed of meridional flows, believed to occur between convection zone and the surface of the Sun.