Patterns of Current Helicity for Solar Cycle 22

Abstract

Using a 1988-1997 data set of original photospheric vector magnetograms from the Solar Magnetic Field Telescope (SMFT) of the Huairou Solar Observing Station of Beijing Astronomical Observatory, we computed the local current helicity Bz(∇×B)z for 422 active regions. We found that any given active region contained mixed signs of current helicity, but in most cases current helicity with a particular sign was dominant over a whole region area. In our data set, 84% of the active regions in the northern hemisphere have negative helicity, and 81% in the southern hemisphere have positive helicity. It is estimated that the noise and error in our calculation are at the 2 σ level.