Coronal inflows and sector magnetism

We have remeasured the rate of coronal inflows during 1996-2001, taking int o account multiple occurrences per day, and have displayed the results in C arrington stack plots to study their long-term behavior. The stack plots sh ow long-lived recurrence patterns related to the sectorial component of the Sun's large-scale field. In particular, most inflows are parts of streams that last for several months and occur where the sectorial field has strong gradients. The occurrence rate occasionally approaches similar to1 hr(-1) near sunspot maximum when the sectorial field is strong and the streamer be lt is greatly distorted from its flattened equatorial configuration. The li nk between coronal inflows and sector magnetism suggests that the inflows a re by-products of a global recycling process in which nonaxisymmetric open flux is provided by active regions and dissipated by differential rotation, supergranular diffusion, and meridional flow.