Relationship between group sunspot numbers and Wolf sunspot numbers

Abstract

AbstractContinuous wavelet transform and cross‐wavelet transform have been used to investigate the phase periodicity and synchrony of the monthly mean Wolf (Rz) and group (Rg) sunspot numbers during the period of June 1795 to December 1995. The Schwabe cycle is the only one common period in Rg and Rz, but it is not well‐defined in case of cycles 5–7 of Rg and in case of cycles 5 and 6 of Rz. In fact, the Schwabe period is slightly different in Rg and Rz before cycle 12, but from cycle 12 onwards it is almost the same for the two time series. Asynchrony of the two time series is more obviously seen in cycles 5 and 6 than in the following cycles, and usually more obviously seen around the maximum time of a cycle than during the rest of the cycle. Rg is found to fit Rz better in both amplitudes and peak epoch during the minimum time time of a solar cycle than during the maximum time of the cycle, which should be caused by their different definition, and around the maximum time of a cycle, Rg is usually less than Rz. Asynchrony of Rg and Rz should somewhat agree with different sunspot cycle characteristics exhibited by themselves (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)