Asymmetry of solar active prominences separately at low and high latitudes from 1957 to 1998

The paper presents the results of a study of the asymmetry of the solar active prominences (SAP) at low (less than or equal to40degrees) and high (greater than or equal to50degrees) latitudes, respectively, from 1957 through 1998 (solar cycles 19-22). A quantitative analysis of the hemispheric distribution of the SAP is given. We found that the annual hemispheric asymmetry indeed exists at low latitudes, but strangely, a similar asymmetry does not seem to occur for SAPS at high latitudes. We found that the north-south (N-S) asymmetry of the solar active prominences at high latitudes is always north dominated during solar cycles 19-22 while the N-S asymmetry of the SAPS at low latitudes is shifted to a dominance in the southern hemisphere for solar cycle 21 and remains south dominated even in cycle 22. Thus, the hemispheric asymmetry of the solar active prominences at high latitudes in a cycle appears to have little connection with the asymmetry of the solar activity at low latitudes. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.