The evolution of isolated active regions

The decay of several active regions which emerged early in cycle 22 has bee n studied using daily magnetograms and synoptic plots obtained at the Vacuu m Telescope at the National Solar Observatory, Kitt Peak. The observed patt erns are compared with simulations using the flux transport equation and so me discrepancies are noted. For one region it is shown that, by including t he emergence of a non-random pattern of small magnetic bipoles during the d ecay, the correspondence between the observed and simulated patterns may be improved.