Helicity comparison among three magnetographs Original Research Article

We compare vector magnetograms of 228 active regions observed by Solar Magnetic Field Telescope (SMFT) at Huairou (HR) Solar Observing Station and the Solar Flare Telescope (SFT) at Mitaka (MTK) of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan from 1992 to 2005 and 55 active regions observed by SFT and Haleakala Stokes Polarimeter (HSP) at Mees Solar Observatory, University of Hawaii from 1997 to 2000. Two helicity parameters, current helicity density hc and αff coefficient of linear force free field are calculated. From this comparison we conclude: (1) the mean azimuthal angle differences of transverse fields between HR and MTK data are systematic smaller than that between MTK and Mees data; (2) there are 83.8% of hc and 78.1% of αff for 228 active regions observed at HR and MTK agree in sign, and the Pearson linear correlation coefficient between these two data sets is 0.72 for hc and 0.56 for αff. There are 61.8% of hc and 58.2% of αff for 55 active regions observed at MTK and Mees agree in sign, and the Pearson linear correlation coefficient between these two data sets is 0.34 for hc and 0.31 for αff; (3) there is a basic agreement on time variation of helicity parameters in active regions observed at HR, Mees, and MTK.