Global Magnetic Patterns of Chirality

Abstract

During the past five years at least six manifestations of a global organization of solar magnetic fields have been recognized. The magnetic chirality (handedness) of the following features shows a hemispheric preference: filament channels, quiescent filaments, sunspot whorls, superpenumbral fibrils, coronal arcades, and interplanetary clouds associated with CMEs. Although the patterns are clear in the data, their interpretation and their possible connection to the dynamo is open to question. This paper reviews the observations of the patterns, corrects some misinterpretations, and offers a scenario for the origin of the most marked pattern, the chirality of filaments. We suggest the pattern arises from the reconnection of coronal loops, under the influence of supergranulation and differential rotation. Unlike alternative scenarios, ours relies only on observable surface motions and fields.