Relation of the green coronal line intensity to sunspot areas and magnetic fields of different scales

Abstract

The intensity of Fe XIV 530.3-nm green coronal line is compared quantitatively with the strength of magnetic fields of small and large scales and also with total sunspot areas for 1977–2001. A degree of similarity of appropriate synoptic maps is evaluated using correlation analysis. The green line intensity maps are constructed from data of its daily monitoring. Strengths of magnetic fields are calculated in a potential approximation using the photosphere observations of Wilcox Solar Observatory for a distance of 1.1 The calculations are performed separately for fields of large and small spatial scales. The total area of sunspots is obtained using data from the Greenwich Catalogue and its continuation by USAF/NOAA. The correlation has been calculated for the aggregate of areas (with a size of 20° in latitude and 30° in longitude) coinciding spatially on all maps. It is found that the most correlation between the green line intensity and coronal fields of small scales is observed in a zone of 0°–20°. The correlation with total sunspot areas (i.e., with local fields at the photosphere level) is substantially less here. In the higher-latitude zone 20°–40°, correlation of the green-line intensity with spot areas and small-scale coronal fields decreases. The large-scale fields have little influence on the green-line emission in the spot-formation zone. These results are the evidence of a complex nature of the effect of different-scale fields, arising as a result of dynamo activity in the subsurface (leptocline) and deep-lying (tachocline) layers of the convective zone, on the processes of the Sun’s corona heating and green coronal line emission.