Quasi-biennial oscillations of the global solar magnetic field

Abstract

Quasi-biennial oscillations (QBOs) can clearly be distinguished in uniform series of data on the solar magnetic-field polarity derived from Hα observations in 1915–1999. These have been proven to represent oscillations of the global magnetic field of the Sun. This is verified by spectral analyses executed using various methods: the QBOs are clearly visible in low harmonics (l=1–3), but abruptly disappear for l=4 and higher. First and foremost, the QBOs are displayed in variations of the sector structure of the large-scale magnetic field, demonstrating that they correspond to variations of the horizontal multipoles.