Reconstructing solar magnetic fields from historical observations V. Sunspot magnetic field measurements at Mount Wilson Observatory

TL;DR

This paper details the digitization and analysis of a century-long dataset of sunspot magnetic field measurements from Mount Wilson Observatory, enabling improved reconstruction of solar magnetic history.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new digitized dataset of historical sunspot magnetic field observations and describes the methods and limitations of this dataset.

Findings

The dataset spans from 1917 to present with detailed magnetic field measurements.

Comparison shows consistency between historical data and modern instruments.

The dataset can be extended with current observations for ongoing solar magnetic studies.

Abstract

Context. Systematic observations of magnetic field strength and polarity in sunspots began at Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO), USA in early 1917. Except for a few brief interruptions, this historical dataset continues till present. Aims. The sunspot field strength and polarity observations are critical in our project of reconstructing the solar magnetic field over the last hundred years. Here we provide a detailed description of the newly digitized dataset of drawings of sunspot magnetic field observations. Methods. The digitization of MWO drawings is based on a software package develope d by us. It includes a semi-automatic selection of solar limbs and other features of the drawing, and a manual entry of the time of observations, the measured field strength and other notes hand-written on each drawing. The data are preserved in a MySQL database. Results. We provide a brief history of the project and describe the results from digitizing this historical dataset. We also provide a summary of the final dataset, and describe its known limitations. Finally, we compare the sunspot magnetic field measurements with other instruments, and demonstrate that, if needed, the dataset could be continued using modern observations such as, for example, Vector Stokes Magnetograph (VSM) on Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS) platform.