Why the sunspot cycle is double peaked

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that all sunspot cycles exhibit a double-peaked structure caused by two distinct surges of toroidal magnetic field, linked to different physical mechanisms and influenced by solar meridional circulation and diffusivity.

Contribution

It provides evidence that all sunspot cycles have two peaks in different latitudinal bands and explains their origin through magnetic field dynamics and solar interior processes.

Findings

All cycles show two peaks in sunspot activity.

The double peaks result from two surges of toroidal field.

The surges are driven by the interplay of meridional flow and diffusivity.

Abstract

Many sunspot cycles are double peaked. In 1967 Gnevyshev suggested that actually all cycles have two peaks generated by different physical mechanisms, but sometimes the gap between them is too short for the maxima to be distinguished in indices of the total sunspot activity. Here we show that indeed all cycles have two peaks easily identified in sunspot activity in different latitudinal bands. We study the double peaks in the last 12 sunspot cycles and show that they are manifestation of the two surges of toroidal field - the one generated from the poloidal field advected all the way on the surface to the poles, down to the tachocline and equatorward to sunspot latitudes, and another one generated from the poloidal field diffused at midlatitudes from the surface to the tachocline and transformed there into toroidal field. The existence of these two surges of toroidal field is due to the relative magnitudes of the speed of the large-scale solar meridional circulation and the diffusivity in the solar convection zone which are estimated from geomagnetic data.