Sunspots are active regions on the surface of the Sun having strong magnetic fields. Activity level of the Sun shows long-time scale phenomena known as grand episodes-Grand maxima and Grand minima. Present study examines grand episodes shown by sunspot numbers (1090-2017), using methods of wavelet transform and sinusoidal regression. Time interval analysed includes two grand maxima and four grand minima. Interval in between grand episodes are regular oscillations. Phase changes found from periodicity analysis clearly show the presence of upcoming grand episodes. The forthcoming grand episodes are suggested to be two grand minima which are likely to occur between the years 2100-2160 and 2220-2300.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have become one of the key indicators of solar activity, especially in terms of the consequences of the transient events in the heliosphere. Although CMEs are closely related to the sunspot number (SSN), they are also related to other closed magnetic regions on the Sun such as quiescent filament regions. This makes CMEs a better indicator of solar activity. While sunspots mainly represent the toroidal component of solar magnetism, quiescent filaments (and hence CMEs associated with them) connect the toroidal and poloidal components via the rush-to-the-pole (RTTP) phenomenon. Taking the end of RTTP in each hemisphere as an indicator of solar polarity reversal, it is shown that the north-south reversal asymmetry has a quasi-periodicity of 3-5 solar cycles. Focusing on the geospace consequences of CMEs, it is shown that the maximum CME speeds averaged over Carrington rotation period show good correlation with geomagnetic activity indices such as Dst and aa.

It has been established that Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) may have significant impact on terrestrial magnetic field and lead to space weather events. In the present study, we selected several CMEs which are associated with filament eruptions on the Sun. We attempt to identify the presence of filament material within ICME at 1AU. We discuss how different ICMEs associated with filaments lead to moderate or major geomagnetic activity on their arrival at the Earth. Our study also highlights the difficulties in identifying the filament material at 1AU within isolated and in interacting CMEs.

The kinematic modeling of the solar convection zone remains the workhorse of the solar dynamo to understand the solar cycle. During the past several years, the major progress in understanding the solar cycle using kinematic models is as follows. (1). The Babcock-Leighton (BL) mechanism was confirmed to be at the essence of the solar cycle. (2). The scatter of sunspot tilt angles is identified as a major cause of solar cycle irregularities. (3). The important roles of the magnetic pumping in the dynamo process are recognized. (4). Some 3D kinematic BL type dynamo models have been developed. As a key part of the solar dynamo loop, the surface observable part of the BL mechanism makes the physics-based solar cycle prediction feasible. Including the effects of the tilt scatter on the polar field generation, the possible strength of the subsequent cycle can be predicted when a cycle starts for a few years.

Solar torsional oscillations are migrating bands of slower and faster than average rotation, which are thought to be related to the Sun’s magnetic cycle. We perform the first long-term study (16 years) of hemispherical asymmetry in solar torsional oscillation velocity using helioseismic data. We explore the spatial and temporal variation of North-South asymmetry using zonal flow velocities obtained from ring diagram analysis of the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Doppler images. We find a strong correlation between the asymmetries of near-surface torsional oscillation with magnetic flux and sunspot number, with the velocity asymmetry preceding in both the cases. We speculate that the asymmetry in torsional oscillation velocity may help in predicting the hemispherical asymmetry in the sunspot cycle.

Ultraviolet (UV) Solar spectral Irradiance (SSI) has been measured from orbit on a regular basis since the beginning of the space age. These observations span four Solar Cycles, and they are crucial for our understanding of the Sun-Earth connection and space weather. SSI at these wavelengths are the main drivers for the upper atmosphere including the production and destruction of ozone in the stratosphere. The instruments that measure UV SSI not only require good preflight calibration, but also need a robust method to maintain that calibration on orbit. We will give an overview of the catalog of current and former UV SSI measurements along with the calibration philosophy of each instrument and an estimation of the uncertainties in the published irradiances.

We explore the cause of the solar cycle variabilities using a novel 3D Babcock–Leighton dynamo model. In this model, based on the toroidal flux at the base of the convection zone, bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs) are produced with statistical properties obtained from observed distributions. We find that a little quenching in BMR tilt is sufficient to stabilize the dynamo growth. The randomness and nonlinearity in the BMR emergences make the poloidal field unequal and cause some variability in the solar cycle. However, when observed scatter of BMR tilts around Joy’s law with a standard deviation of 15°, is considered, our model produces a variation in the solar cycle, including north-south asymmetry comparable to the observations. The morphology of magnetic fields closely resembles observations, in particular the surface radial field possesses a more mixed polarity field. Observed scatter also produces grand minima. In 11,650 years of simulation, 17 grand minima are detected and 11% of its time the model remained in these grand minima. When we double the tilt scatter, the model produces correct statistics of grand minima. Importantly, the dynamo continues even during grand minima with only a few BMRs, without requiring any additional alpha effect. The reason for this is the downward magnetic pumping which suppresses the diffusion of the magnetic flux across the surface. The magnetic pumping also helps to achieve 11-year magnetic cycle using the observed BMR flux distribution, even at the high diffusivity.

The polarization measurement of coronal forbidden emission lines is the most promising method of determining the direction of magnetic fields in the corona. A classical theory for the forbidden lines was presented in Megha et al. (2017) for the case of arbitrary strength magnetic fields. Here we apply that theoretical formalism to study the effect of density distributions, magnetic field configurations, and velocity fields on the Stokes profiles formed in corona. For illustrations we use the atomic parameters of the [Fe xiii] 10747 Å coronal forbidden line.

We present here the observations of solar jets observed on April 04, 2017 from NOAA active region (AR) 12644 using high temporal and spatial resolution AIA instrument. We have observed around twelve recurring jets during the whole day. Magnetic flux emergence and cancellation have been observed at the jet location. The multi-band observations evidenced that these jets were triggered due to the magnetic reconnection at low coronal null–point.

The study of solar rotation has a 150-year history. Early studies were restricted to looking at the movement of sunspots; much later came studies using other tracers such as supergranules, and spectroscopic measurements using Doppler shifts of spectral lines. These studies also found evidence of other large-scale flows, such as the meridional flows in the north-south direction and the zonal flows, or torsional oscillations, parallel to the equator. However, until the 1980s, the study of solar rotation and large-scale flows was restricted to what could be observed on the solar surface. The advent of good helioseismic data changed that and gave us the means to study flows in the solar interior. Instruments like GONG, MDI and HMI have now collected helioseismic data for two solar cycles and these also allow us to study the large scale flows and their variations with time and solar activity. We review what the long data sets tell us about the these flows and discuss some of the differences between solar cycles 23 and 24.

Using the data obtained from Kepler satellite, we have analyzed an F-type ultra-fast rotator KIC 6791060. We derive a rotational period of 0.34365±0.00004 d. Multiple periodicity with a period separation of ~0.00016 d was detected, which appears to be a result of the relative velocity between the multiple spot-groups in different stellar latitudes due to the surface differential rotation. Modeling of the surface inhomogeneities using the light curve of 3899 epochs shows the evidence of single active longitude region. The active longitude is found to drift along the longitude at a rate similar to the detected period separation of the F-type star. The surface coverage of cool spots is found to be in the range of ~0.07–0.44%. The low value of the spottedness can be interpreted probably due to the thinner convection zone on the F-type star.

Solar activity is a chaotic process and there are various approximations to forecast its long term and short term variations. But there is no prediction method that predicts the solar activity exactly. In this study, a nonlinear prediction approach was applied to international sunspot numbers and performance of predictions was tested for the last 5 solar cycles. These predictions are in good agreement with observed values of the tested solar cycles. According to these results, end of cycle 24 is expected at February, 2020 with 7.7 smoothed monthly mean sunspot number and maximum of cyle 25 is expected at May, 2024 with 119.6 smoothed monthly mean sunspot number.

Sunspot activity exhibits hemispheric asymmetry. We study the long-term variations in the hemispheric sunspot area from Kodaikanal white-light data during 1921 – 2011. The results on the presence or absence of double peak in an individual solar cycle, dominant hemispheric activity, and phase lag between the activities of northern and southern hemispheres, etc., are presented.

Magnetic reconnections (MRs) for various magnetic field line (MFL) topologies are believed to be the initiators of solar eruptive events like flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Consequently, important is a thorough understanding and quantification of the MFL topology and their evolution which leads to MRs. Contemporary standard is to extrapolate the coronal MFLs using equilibrium models where the Lorentz force on the coronal plasma is zero everywhere. In tandem, a non-force-free-field (NFFF) extrapolation scheme has evolved and allows for a Lorentz force which is non-zero only at the photosphere but asymptotically vanishes with height. The paper reports magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)- simulations initiated by NFFF extrapolation of the coronal MFLs for a flare producing active region NOAA 11158. Interestingly, quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) which facilitate MRs are detected in the extrapolated MFLs and, here the paper makes an attempt to asses the role of QSLs in the flare onsets.

The Sun is an active star and its magnetic field fluctuates from a fraction of a second to a long period of time. The solar wind, CME, solar prominence, solar flares, solar particle and solar filament are the direct result of solar magnetic activity effects on the interplanetary space, Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere. The intensity of irruption of these phenomena from the Sun’s surface depends upon its phases. The extreme events affect technology both in space and on the ground.The data obtained from series of observations can help to predict solar activities and safekeeping to the space technology. In this study the cross correlations between IMF Bz, solar wind velocity(Vsw) and interplanetary electric field(Ey) with AE and SYM-H are studied. The results reveal that strong geomagnetic disturbances have high impact on the components of space weather than weak disturbances have.

Sunspot observations and counting are carried out at the Specola Solare Ticinese in Locarno since 1957 when it was built as an external observing station of the Zurich observatory. When in 1980 the data center responsibility was transferred from ETH Zurich to the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels, the observations in Locarno continued and Specola Solare Ticinese got the role of pilot station. The data collected at Specola cover now the last 6 solar cycles.

The aim of this presentation is to discuss and give an overview about the Specola data collection, the applied counting method and the future archiving projects. The latter includes the publication of all data and drawings in digital form in collaboration with the ETH Zurich University Archives, where a parallel digitization project is ongoing for the document of the former Swiss Federal Observatory in Zurich collected since the time of Rudolph Wolf.

Artificial Neural Network based Nonlinear Autoregressive Model is designed to reconstruct and predict Forbush Decrease (FD) Data obtained from Izmiran, Russia. Result indicates that the model seems adequate for short term prediction of the FD data.

The first-ever revision of the sunspot number was released in 2015 by the World Data Center (WDC) SILSO. We describe the main diagnosed corrections to the sunspot and group number series, and also review newly published alternate reconstructions. We show the convergence of the determinations of the 1947 scale jump in the sunspot number around a value of 1.18 for cycle maxima. We also assess new proposed reconstructions of the group number, like the “backbone” and “active-day fraction” methods. No agreement was reached yet for this series.

We highlight the main impacts of those recent upgrades on different scientific applications. As this first revision also marks a transition towards a dynamical series open to future improvements, we finally introduce the ongoing collaborative process for preparing the next upgrade (Version 3). From now on, our scientific users must be prepared for a flexible integration of an evolving sunspot number series.

We show that on-off intermittency in solar and stellar cycles is a result of amplitude-phase synchronization in multiscale interactions in solar/stellar dynamos or magnetorotational instability which leads to the formation of kinematic and magnetic coherent structures, and the novel techniques of Lagrangian coherent structures can detect transport barriers and vortices such as magnetic flux tubes/ropes in solar and stellar turbulence with high accuracy.

We have begun a project aimed at providing a large consistent set of well- vetted solar analogs in order to address questions of stellar rotation, activity, dynamos, and gyrochronology. We make use of the K2 mission fields to obtain precise photometric time series, supplemented by ground-based photometric and spectroscopic data for promising candidates. From this data we will derive rotation periods, spot coverages, and flare rates for a well- defined and well-calibrated sample of solar analogs.