Temporal Variation of Ca–K Line Profile of the Sun during the Solar Cycle 22 and 23

Abstract

We obtained the Ca-K line profile of the Sun as a star since 1969 at the Kodaikanal Observatory (KO) and analysis of the data showed the need to delineate the role of different chromospheric features to the variations of solar irradiance. We, therefore, initiated a new methodology to make observations of Ca-K line profiles of the Sun as a function of latitude and integrated over the longitude on a daily basis since 1986. We have collected the data for about thousand days, spread over two solar cycles. Earlier data (before 1997) were recorded on the photographic film and later data using the CCD detector. The photographic film data were digitized and analysed along with the data obtained from CCD camera. From these data, we computed K 1 and K 2 widths for the Sun as a star, using all the observed line profiles as a function of latitude. In addition, we have analyzed the spectra of the whole Sun as a star obtained on some days and compared it with the results obtained from latitude spectra of the same day. The K 1 and K 2 widths of the Sun as a star derived from the KO data are compared with values determined from the observations made at other observatories to compare results from the new methodology of observations adopted by us and the earlier techniques. The average values of K 1 width during the minimum period. of solar cycle 23 are smaller than those during the minimum period of cycle 22. Day-to-day variations in the K 1 and K 2 widths and plage areas may imply that irradiance variations occur not only due to large-scale solar activity, but also because of variations in some of the three types of network in quiet regions of the Sun. The variation in intensity of the plages can also cause day-to-day variations in widths.