Abstract | The research community is pushing hard to explore the Sun with the highest-possible spatial resolution
and the fastest time cadence. We justify this by the need to better understand the physics of solar activity
and to develop a reliable space weather forecast. However, our understanding of solar activity will be
incomplete and even distorted, if we do not know how present activity compares with the past, and what
changes may had been occurring in properties of solar phenomena. This talk will outline the importance
of long-term datasets and review the results of modern synoptic studies. We will also present the current
efforts aimed at addressing the continuity of long-term observations of the Sun |