Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2005
An analysis of polar activity of the Sun was carried out using the observations in the optical range. The secular and cycle peculiarities of the magnetic activity on the high latitudes were found:
an increase of the area of polar caps of the Sun, occupied by unipolar magnetic field at the minimum activity during 1878-2000;
a decrease of coronal temperature at the high-latitude zones during the last 50 years;
the connection between the polar and sunspot activities;
outset and duration of the polar activity cycle;
drift of the activity to the poles and from the poles after the magnetic field reversal.