Abstract
The method of active-day fraction (ADF) was proposed recently to calibrate different solar observers to standard observational conditions. The result of the calibration may depend on the overall level of solar activity during the observational period. This dependency is studied quantitatively using data of the Royal Greenwich Observatory by formally calibrating synthetic pseudo-observers to the full reference dataset. It is shown that the sunspot group number is precisely estimated by the ADF method for periods of moderate activity, may be slightly underestimated by 0.5 – 1.5 groups (\({\leq}\,10\%\)) for strong and very strong activity, and is strongly overestimated by up to 2.5 groups (\({\leq}\,30\%\)) for weak-to-moderate activity. The ADF method becomes inapplicable for the periods of grand minima of activity. In general, the ADF method tends to overestimate the overall level of activity and to reduce the long-term trends.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful for fruitful discussions with Frédéric Clette, Ed Cliver, Greg Kopp, Laure Lefévre, Andrés Mũnoz-Jaramillo, Alexei Pevtsov, Leif Svalggard, and José Vaquero. VarSITI/SCOSTEP is acknowledged for an opportunity to discuss this material during the 2nd VarSITI General Symposium (Irkutsk, 2017). This work was carried out in the framework of the ReSoLVE Centre of Excellence (Academy of Finland, project no. 272157).
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Willamo, T., Usoskin, I.G. & Kovaltsov, G.A. A Test of the Active-Day Fraction Method of Sunspot Group Number Calibration: Dependence on the Level of Solar Activity. Sol Phys 293, 69 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-018-1292-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-018-1292-7