A global small sunspot deficit at the base of the index anomalies of solar cycle 23

Context. The variability of the 11-year cycle of solar activity on secular timescales is well established through the sunspot record, but it remains unpredictable. Indeed, the duration of the last solar cycle 23 was exceptionally long and took the solar physics community by surprise. The long minimum was marked by particularly low and often unprecedented levels of the international sunspot index Ri and most other solar indices. Earlier in the course of cycle 23, discrepancies appeared between several of those indices, raising a new issue: is there something wrong in the recent index values or is a real physical change occurring inside the Sun?