Latitudinal Profiles of the Photospheric Magnetic Field in Solar Cycles 19–21

Abstract

For groups of photospheric magnetic fields differing in strength the time averaged synoptic maps were obtained on the basis of the National Solar Observatory Kitt Peak data (1976-2003). The latitudinal profiles of magnetic field fluxes were considered separately for each 5 G interval of the field strength B. The changes both of the profile maxima and of the latitudinal localization of these maxima were studied. The obtained results show that the latitudinal distribution of magnetic fields considerably changes at certain values of the field strength: 5 G, 15 G, and 50 G. The magnetic flux for field groups differing in strength, monotonically decreases with increase of strength for all fields with strength B>5 G. For these fields the fluxes of the southern hemisphere exceed fluxes of the northern hemisphere. A very special group is represented by the weakest fields B<5 G, which are in antiphase both in localization and in time changes with stronger fields.