New results concerning the global solar cycle

Abstract

The poleward migration-trajectory diagram of filament bands is derived for the years 1915-1982 from the H-alpha synoptic charts. The global solar activity commences soon after the polar-field reversal in the form of two components in each hemisphere. The first component is identified with the polar faculae that appear at latitudes 40-70 deg and migrate polewards. The second and the more powerful component representing the sunspots shows up at 40 deg latitudes 5-6 years later and drifts equatorward, giving rise to a butterfly diagram. Thus the global solar activity is described by the faculae and the sunspots that occur at different latitude belts and displaced in time by 5-6 years.