Cyclic variations in the main components of the solar large-scale magnetic field

ABSTRACT We consider variations of the dipole and quadrupole components of the solar large-scale magnetic field. Both axial and equatorial dipoles exhibit a systematic decrease during the past four cycles, in accordance with the general decrease of solar activity. The transition of the pole of a dipole from the polar region to the midlatitudes occurs rather quickly, so that the longitude of the pole changes little. With time, however, this inclined dipole region shifts to larger longitudes, which suggests an acceleration of dipole rotation. The mean rotation rate exceeds the Carrington velocity by 0.6 per cent. The behaviour of a quadrupole differs dramatically. Its decrease over the last four cycles was much smaller than that of the dipole moment. The ratio of the quadrupole and dipole moments has increased for four cycles more than twice, in contrast to sunspot numbers, which displayed a twofold decrease for the same time interval. Regarding quadrupole rotation, the mean longitude of the poles of one sign decreased by 600° over four cycles, which suggests that the mean rotation rate was lower than the Carrington velocity by 0.28 per cent. We do not, however, see any conclusive evidence that, in the period under discussion, a mode of quadrupole symmetry was excited in the Sun along with the dipole mode.