Latitudinal structure with four zones: two sub polar and two equatorial with 22-year period of polarity change is clearly demonstrated. The auto-correlation of the magnetic field has been calculated for all latitudes from 75 N to 75 S to study its temporal variability on a short and on a long term scale. The meridional drift of the magnetic field with 2–3 years periodicities has been clearly evidenced in the both hemispheres.

The structure and evolution of the sources of solar activity directly affects the nature of space weather disturbances that reach the Earth. We have previously demonstrated that the loss of equilibrium and partial ejection of a coronal magnetic flux rope matches observations of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and their precursors.In this paper we discuss the significance of such a partially-ejected rope for space weather. We will consider how the evolution and bifurcation of the rope modifies it from its initial, source configuration. In particular, we will consider how reconnections and writhing motions lead to an escaping rope which has an axis rotated counterclockwise from the original rope axis orientation, and which is rooted in transient coronal holes external to the original source region.

Baily beads timings of annular eclipse of October 3, 2005 and total eclipse of March 29, 2006 have been analyzed for measuring a variation of the actual solar radius between those dates. After 1/3 of all beads events analyzed, corrections to average solar radius are known within $\pm$0.19”. High resolution video have been made at the boundaries of totality-annularity paths, to increase the number of beads visible. Comparison of observations made with different combinations of telescopes/filters/detectors is discussed.

We study variations of solar activity (sunspot numbers W) and anomaly of global temperature (GT) to detect a connection of their time variations on different time scales (including trends) to understand cause of global warming. We use a method of non-linear spectral analysis that is capable of making a self-consistent selection of trends, non-stationary oscillations and identifiing time intervals of development of non-linear processes (appearence of oscillations of large amplitude) in data. Analysis shows that trends of both spectra contribute main part to the data changes and show correlated increasing of W and GT during the studied interval. Cause of Maunder Minimum and present global warming is regime change (from epoch of damping to epoch of building up) of the powerfull oscillations at T = 1000 yr. from the GT spectrum. Besides, time changes of GT and W has different type of connection in different range of periods T: non-stationary oscillations from the spectra of W and GT at T = 10 yr. and T = 30 yr. vary in opposite phase, at T = 22 yr. vary in phase. The latter means different influence of odd and even 11-yr solar cycles on anomaly of GT (warming and cooling accordingly).

The study of the differential rotation law is an important issue in solar physics. Earlier studies of filaments found formulae for their differential rotation at stable existence stage. This paper relies on Big Bear Solar Observatory H-alpha filtergrams to estimate angular velocities of quiescent filaments at different stages of existence. Angular velocities are shown to cover a wide range of values. Likely causes of this velocity scatter are discussed.

A series of drifting microwave bursts during the 30 March 2001 flare are analyzed using the Siberian Solar radiotelescope (SSRT) images at 5.7 GHz and dynamic spectra obtained simultaneously by the spectropolarimeters of National Astronomic Observatories in China (NAOC) in the range 5.2–7.6 GHz. While observing the event with the SSRT, the burst sources were simultaneously recorded at two frequencies, which allowed their relative spatial shifts to be measured and source velocity along the flare loop (observed in soft X-ray and ultraviolet emission) to be evaluated. Estimates were made of the plasma density gradient along the source movement direction, the plasma emission being assumed to be generated at the second harmonic. Drifting burst series occur during transient hard X-ray brightenings. Burst drift rates ranged from $-$10 to 20 GHz/s, with a mean value of about 6 GHz/s. The shape of the drift rate distribution around the mean value is nearly symmetric. It is suggested that the mean value distribution may be related to increased plasma density in the source of subsecond pulses. In particular, the corresponding density variations may be associated with magnetic reconnection processes.

We present a new powerful tool to simulate the streamer belt of the solar corona based on forward modeling. It takes into account the temporal evolution of the corona and provides both qualitative and quantitative results. Starting from the National Solar Observatory photospheric magnetograms, the position of the neutral line at the source surface (2.5 Rsun) is caculated using the potential field source surface model. The plasma sheet of the streamer belt is centered around the current sheet represented as the radial extension of the neutral line. The 3D electron density is represented with octree compression and the radiance images are computed by a ray-tracing algorithm implementing the Thomson scattering. A multi-octree method allows to simulate the temporal evolution of the streamer belt and to compute the synoptic maps from time-series of generated images. The comparison between the synoptic maps of the streamer belt obtained with the SOHO/LASCO-C2 coronagraph and the simulated synoptic maps constructed from our model shows a global agreement for both radiance profiles and global behaviour of the streamer and confirms earlier findings by Wang et al. (1997) that the streamers are associated with folds in the plasma sheet. However, some features cannot be explained using this method and are interpreted by introducing two types of large-scale structures. Our results suggest that the potential field source surface model is not fully adequate for the description of the fine structure of the streamer belt, even during the time of low solar activity. We present new applications of our method to future coronographic observations with SECCHI/COR-2 on STEREO and SILC on Solar Orbiter.

We analyzed brightness variations in widespread dimming regions occurred in several major eruptive events in 2003 and 2005 resulted in fast halo CMEs. In all cases brightness of remote dimming regions show some pre-eruptive growth, then gradual and fast decrease to minimum. The time interval of maximal decrease overlaps with X-flare peak and LASCO CME onset. Brightness variations in some dimmed regions are highly correlated before the CME onset and much less – after. It suggests a break of magnetic connectivity between previously linked coronal structures. Dimmings develop similar at 175 and 195 Å being shallower and sometimes delayed at 304 Å. In large-scale region (L$>$0.5 $R_\odot$) dimming propagates with a speed of $\sim$ 250 km/s which is typical for EIT-waves.

We investigate the altitude dependence of hard X-ray (HXR) spectra in solar flares, i.e., whether the HXR spectra are related to the altitudes of reconnection sites. We assume that the reconnection altitude can be scaled by the distance between the two conjugate HXR footpoints in the flare. By searching the RHESSI flare list from 2002 to 2004, we find 42 solar flares below X-class that have enhanced 50–100 keV HXR emission and two well-resolved HXR footpoints at the nonthermal peak time. The preliminary results show that there is a weak correlation ($\sim$ –0.31) between the HXR spectral index and the HXR footpoint distance. We further discuss the possible implications.

The determination of the physical parameters of coronal loops remains both an observational and a theoretical challenge. A new diagnostic technique for quiescent dynamically heated coronal loops, based on the analysis of the power spectra of Doppler shift time series, is proposed. It is assumed that a given loop is heated randomly both in space and time by small-scale discrete impulsive events of unspecified nature. It is shown here that, depending on the heliographic position of the loop and the orientation of the observing instrument, various harmonics can be identified in the power spectra of line shift time series. The frequency peaks are sensitive to changes in the average loop temperature and are proposed to use as a temperature diagnostic tool. The analysis of the power spectra also allows to distinguish uniformly heated loops from loops heated near their footpoints.

In this paper, we apply the general theory of Arnold (1965, 1966) and Moffatt et al. (1997). We search sufficient conditions for the linear stability of steady three-dimensional incompressible gravitating flows in ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The results suggest that the solar and the stellar convection zones must be sensitive to the density stratification.

Hasan et al. (2005) have recently presented 2-D dynamical calculations on wave propagation in in the magnetic network of the Sun. The latter is idealized as consisting of non-potential flux tubes in the quiet solar chromosphere. It is of interest to understand how the nature of wave propagation is influenced by the choice of initial equilibrium configuration of the magnetic field. We examine this by comparing the earlier calculations with those when the network is modelled as a potential structure. Our calculations demonstrate that the nature of the wave propagation is significantly different, particularly the transport of energy which for the potential case, occurs more isotropically than for the non-potential configuration.

Historical records of the Nile water level provide a unique opportunity to investigate the possibility that solar variability influences the Earth's climate. Particularly important are the annual records of the water level, which are uninterrupted for the years 622–1470 A.D. These records are non-stationary, so that standard spectral analyses cannot adequately characterize them. Here the Empirical Mode Decomposition technique, which is designed to deal with non-stationary, nonlinear time series, becomes useful. It allows the identification of two characteristic time scales in the water level data that can be linked to solar variability: the 88 year period and a time scale of about 200 years. These time scales are also present in the concurrent aurora data. Auroras are driven by coronal mass ejections and the rate of auroras is an excellent proxy for solar variabiliy. Analysis of auroral data contemporaneous with the Nile data shows peaks at 88 years and about 200 years. This suggests a physical link between solar variability and the low-frequency variations of the Nile water level. The link involves the influence of solar variability on the North Annual Mode of atmospheric variability and its North Atlantic and Indian Oceans patterns that affect rainfall over Eastren Equatorial Africa where the Nile originates.

Using time-dependent resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we study a flux rope eruption caused by magnetic reconnection with implication in coexistent flare-CME events. Without the resistance the flux rope system presents a double catastrophe. We use the first catastrophic state as the initial condition, in which an isolated flux rope coexists with two current sheets: a vertical one below and a transverse one above the flux rope. The flux rope erupts when reconnection starts in the current sheets, and the flux rope dynamics depends on the reconnection sequence in the two current sheets. We obtain three cases: reconnection occurs (1) simultaneously in the two current sheets, (2) first in the transverse one and then in the vertical, and (3) in an order opposite to case 2. Such a model exhibits characteristics of both magnetic breakout model for CME initiation and standard flare model. We argue that both breakout-like and tether-cutting reconnections may be important for CME eruptions.

A clear case on Dec. 28 2002 is presented. It is about the initiation of two successive CMEs, which were related to an eruptive prominence. In EIT 304 Å and 195 Å observations, we found a long filament severely twisting in a piece of its fragments, which appeared as a prominence on Dec. 26. Then, the prominence converted its twist into writhe. Two days later, the prominence displayed a slow rising motion for hours. There happened internal twisting and mass motion before the prominence rapid acceleration and final eruption. Two successive CMEs recorded by LASCO C2 coronagraph corresponded to the early rising and the subsequently eruptive phases of the prominence, respectively. Evidence of magnetic reconnection, i.e., a cusp structure and post-flare loops in EUV wavebands, and hard X-ray sources in the corona, were observed after the prominence disruption. It appears that the kink instability and the mass drainage in the prominence played important roles in triggering two CMEs' initiation. We suspected that the rather impulsive acceleration of the second CME resulted from magnetic reconnection beneath the prominence.

Mottles and spicules are the most prominent, short-lived, dynamic features residing at the quiet Sun chromospheric network and constitute what is known as chromospheric fine structure. We are reporting a comprehensive study of the dynamical characteristics and physical properties of such structures, from multi-wavelength observations, using line inversion techniques and a wavelet spectral analysis. We are furthermore examining their dynamical evolution and their periodic bi-directional velocity behaviour, their interrelationship and their association with the underlying magnetic field which seems to be their forming and driving mechanism. These studies are crucial to understanding the dynamics of the solar chromosphere, as well as the role such structures play in the mass balance and heating of the overlying solar atmosphere.

We study CMEs observed by LASCO to have plane of the sky velocities exceeding 1500 km/sec. We find that these extremely fast CMEs are typically associated with flares accompanied by erupting prominences. Our results are consistent with a single CME initiation process that consists of three stages. The initial stage is brought about by the emergence of new magnetic flux, which interacts with the pre-existing magnetic configuration and results in a slow rise of the magnetic structure. The second stage is a fast reconnection phase with flaring, filament eruption and a sudden increase of the rise velocity of the magnetic structure (CME). The third stage consists of propagation in the corona. We discuss the sources of these CMEs and the need for improved understanding of the first and third stages.

Wave and oscillatory activity of the solar corona is confidently observed with modern imaging and spectral instruments in the visible light, EUV, X-ray and radio bands, and interpreted in terms of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave theory. The review reflects the current trends in the observational study of coronal waves and oscillations, theoretical modelling of interaction of MHD waves with plasma structures, and implementation of the theoretical results for the mode identification. Also the use of MHD waves for remote diagnostics of coronal plasma - MHD coronal seismology – is discussed.

Very few in situ measurements so far show the details of the interactions between CME and magnetosphere. Here we report a fortuitous observation that the Cluster spacecraft were located at the dusk-side magnetopause, meandering back and forth four times between the ICME and the magnetosphere, and observed part process of the interaction between the CME and the magnetosphere. The primarily analysis showed that: (1) a fast ion beam other than the ambient plasma was observed almost perpendicular to the magnetic field; (2) The left-hand-polarized kinetic Alfvén waves excitation by the ion beam; and (3) the resonances between the kinetic Alfvén waves and part of the beam particles lead to the pitch angle diffusion of resonant particles and formating of a monospheric distribution with nearly constant kinetic energy. The wave-particle resonance may pay an important role in the energy transfer and particle exchange across the magnetopause between the magnetosheath and magnetosphere during the CME impulsion.

It is suggested that we are already in the weak solar cycles series since the start of cycle 23. The interplanetary magnetic filed and the solar wind speed and density are expected to drop considerably during the approaching second weak cycle number 24 and the following ones leading to inflation of the magnetosphere. The corona is also expected to cool down relative to normal cycles corona. A daily background coronal index is proposed. The mechanism of production of weak cycles is tied to the rapid rotation of the photospheric layer which is deeply rooted in the bottom of the convection zone. This rapid surface and subsurface rotation implies slower rotation of the tachocline. Slower dynamo rotation leads to reduction of the strength of the magnetic cycle. One of the very important sequences of the weak cycles, is the expected cooling of the Earths air and sea surface temperatures which would have negative effects on agriculture with increased drought-flood hazards. The reduction of solar UV flux can lead to the closure of the ozone hole on the long run.