The Solar Non-activity Cycle of Polar Coronal Holes

Abstract:

After the unusually extended minimum in 2008 and 2009, solar cycle 24 continues to be an exceptionally weak cycle both in sunspot number and number of large magnetic storms. Coronal holes offer a direct measurement of the non-activity solar cycle, a missing link in our understanding of solar cycle progression. They are prevalent during solar minimum, non-axisymmetric, and are stable. Polar coronal holes are regularly observed capping the northern and southern solar poles in EUV images of the corona and are understood as the primary source of the fast solar wind. We make measurements of these features from 1996 through 2015 using four different NASA imagers: SOHO EIT, STEREO A and B EUVI, and SDO AIA. A measurement of the axial symmetry of the polar holes is seen to have clear solar cycle dependence. Polar coronal holes are aligned with the solar rotation axis during minimum and have a maximum asymmetry between holes of about 14 degrees in the declining phase of the current solar cycle.