Gustav Sp\"orer Was Not a Perfect Observer: Failure of the Active Day Fraction Reconstruction of Sunspot Group Numbers

Abstract

We show that the Active-Day-Fraction calibration method (Willamo et al. [2017]) fails for Gustav Sp\"orer's sunspot group observations. Sp\"orer was labeled a 'perfect observer' on account of his 'observational threshold SS area' being determined to be equal to zero, based on the assumption that the observer can see and report all the groups with the area larger than SS, while missing all smaller groups. So, Sp\"orer could apparently, according to the ADF calibration method, see and report all groups, regardless of size and should never miss any. This suggests a very direct test: compute the yearly average group count for both Sp\"orer and the 'perfect observer' exemplar, the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), and compare them. They should be identical within a reasonable (very small) error margin. We find that they are not and that RGO generally reported 45% more groups than Sp\"orer, and that therefore, the ADF-method is not generally applicable