Calibration of Sunspot Numbers

Abstract

Waldmeier [1971] found a very tight relationship between the F10.7 solar radio flux and the sunspot number and suggested using the flux for an objective calibration of the sunspot number. He suggested that if this relationship changed later on, the sunspot number should be re-calibrated, assuming that the calibration must have drifted with time. I repeat his analysis using data up to the present and it is, indeed, clear that the relationship has changed significantly. This could be due to a drift of the calibration or to a secular change in the visibility of sunspots, or both.