Peculiar features in the solar coronal hole occurrence

A good knowledge of coronal hole (CH) evolution in time is relevant for the understanding of the decay and/or the stability of large-scale magnetic fields in the different heliographic latitudinal belts. Using a CH catalogue, mainly compiled from the He i line (10830 Angstrom) measurements (Sanchez-Ibarra and Barraza-Paredes, 1992, and updated from the NOAA/Boulder Web pages), some characteristics of the CH behaviour in the solar activity cycles 21 and 22 are identified and described. We found: (i) the total number distributions for the isolated and polar coronal holes are similar, (ii) there is a north/south asymmetry, with a northern dominance in the number distribution of the polar coronal holes, (iii) a hint of a 22-year periodicity in the CH behaviour. In addition, two pairs of two isolated CHs with opposite polarity, maximum ages of more than 14 Carrington rotations, separated by about two years, are found during the early decreasing activity phase of each cycle.