Temporal Variations of Coriolis-turns in the Photosphere

Abstract

Correlations have been studied between longitudinal and latitudinal shifts of sunspot groups in the period 1986-1998. This study is based on the Debrecen Photoheliographic Data (DPD). The latitudinal distribution of the correlation values exhibits the expected Coriolis-pattern on the entire period: negative/positive correlations in the northern/southern hemispheres, gradually disappearing toward the equator. The yearly distributions, however, show an interesting cycle dependence: after the unambiguous Coriolis patterns during the growing phase of the cycle the latitudinal dependence of the correlations gets ambiguous at the activity maximum. This may be related to the Gnevyshev gap, the depression of the cycle time-profile at the maximum.