Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Where Have all the Sunspots Gone?
Share:
by Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser | October 3, 2008 at 04:13 pm
747 views | 42 Recommendations | 12 comments
Photos
| If you’re a HAM radio buff, chances are you have been making some long distance connections over the last few weeks with very little interference from the upper atmosphere. You owe thanks in part to the solar wind, or a lack thereof. Blowing outward from the sun at nearly 400 km/s, the solar wind normally moves around the earth’s magnetic field like water around a boulder in a stream. As the solar wind slides past the outer areas of the magnetic field, strong electrical currents are generated that flow into the earth’s upper atmosphere, often producing electrifying aurora displays. During intense solar storms, strong solar winds are capable of crippling satellites and causing havoc for radio and television transmissions. Currently, however, the sun is going through a very quiet time. So quiet in fact that astronomers, physicists and climatologists are wondering about the long term effects on the earth and its inhabitants if it continues. The sun normally goes through an 11 year cycle of solar storm activity. At its peak activity during the cycle, as many as 100 sunspots can be visible at any one time. It is during this time that satellite operators and communication engineers are pulling their hair out trying to keep viewers and listeners happy. Slowly, over the next 5 1/2 years of the 11 year cycle, the sunspots slowly disappear. During the solar cycle minimum, it is possible to not have a single sunspot on the surface of the sun. Communications are great on earth and auroras are weak, and usually visible only in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Polar Regions. This minimum is usually short lived with sunspots appearing in the middle latitudes shortly after the last ones disappeared, indicating the new cycle has started. The last solar minimum occurred during 2007, indicating that we should be well into the next solar cycle, but that has yet to happen. The sun’s face is currently bare of sunspots, auroras are minimal and communications are great. While there is an upside to the lack of sunspots, there could be a downside that we know very little about. The current lack of sunspots is the lowest since we began accurate solar observations during the 1950s, and no one is sure what to expect. The last suspension of the solar cycle, known to astronomers as the Maunder Minimum, coincided with the “little ice age” which occurred from 1645 to 1715. The temperature of the earth cooled only 1 degree Kelvin, but the effects were devastating. Crops failed around the globe and thousands of people perished. Frost Fairs were held in London on the Thames River when the ice was thick enough to support festivities; French vineyards were affected and it created harsh conditions for American troops at Valley Forge. Scientists believe that the solar cycle helps to keep the earth at a somewhat steady temperature. However, if the sunspots fail to reappear, a solar inactivity period of only ten years is enough to put the earth back into a deep freeze. Given the current climate change the earth is experiencing due to global warming, this potential period of global cooling could be a blessing in disguise while we get our act together on implementing alternative energy sources. However, if mankind doesn’t reduce its carbon signature on the planet, the cooling will only be temporary, and the temperatures will rise again. |
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
felgab
Cornellà de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser
Boise, Idaho, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (12)
at 16:50 on October 3rd, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, fascinating stuff.
at 18:09 on October 3rd, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I had no idea about any of this - thanks for enlightening us!
at 18:11 on October 3rd, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Sure would change our present 'feel' on global warming/climate change.
at 23:19 on October 3rd, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I like this story. It's good stuff.
sun spots takes 11year to come back, NASA reports says that it is normal phenomena and good news for space walkers as well.
at 01:01 on October 4th, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Thanks to share with us such interesting story.
at 03:45 on October 4th, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Sunspots increase amount of heat delivered to the earth along with the downside of potential radiation destruction to communication satellites and any astronauts that happen to be in space at the time of a solar flare. Something I found interesting, and tried to apply it to ice-age cycles before learning that sunspots increased rather than decreased heat. A few years ago the planet Mars transited the sun and scientists estimated it reduced the suns heat by 1.0% during its short journey. My thinking at the time was if there were 10 sunspots the size of Mars the heat being delivered to earth would be 10% less, over a long period relative to the long-life of sunspots, as opposed to the transiting of a planet.
-END-
at 05:38 on October 4th, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 07:54 on October 4th, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 09:02 on October 4th, 2008
I will try to explain the sunspot cycle a little better here.
The 11 year cycle is exactly that, an 11 year cycle. Lets say that the sun is experiencing the solar cycle maximum right now, and there are easily 100 sunpots visible on the suns surface at any given time. As time progresses, the sunspot number starts to decrease, and within 5 1/2 years, which is half of the 11 year cycle, the sun experiences the solar cycle minimum and the sunspot count is only a few to zero. Just as the sunspot number started to decrease after the solar cycle maximum, the sunspots begin to reappear within a few weeks, to a couple months, on the way back to the solar cycle maximum. Over the next 5 1/2 years the sunspots will continue to increase in number and reach maximum again on the 11 year mark, completing one cylce.
As for this cycle, the minimum occured early to mid 2007, and the sun should be well on its way to maximum again, which occurs in 2012. NASA will tell you that the current sunspotless sun is not the norm for this cycle, and as stated above, this is the longest period of inactivity astronomers have observed since they began studying the solar cycle accurately in the 1950s.
The energy received from the sun during the minimum is only 0.01 percent less than normal, which over an extended period of time, is enough to reduce the temperature on earth by 1 degree K. This is coincided with what happened during the Maunder Minimum and the "little ice age" as stated above.
Solar astronomer John Eddy believes he has found evidence of this solar inactivity at least 11 times dating back to 3000 BC. If his study proves accurate, humanities survival will depend on our ability to adapt to this solar cycle.
One of my favorite sayings is, "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it". The majority Homo Sapiens believe that the planet has finished with it's geological processes, and that major volcanic activity and ice ages belong to the past. There is nothing farther from the truth. The Earth will experience ice sheets again, along with periods of volcanism and global warming.
Modern Homo Sapiens have only been wandering the planet for about 100,000 years, and during that short time, geologically speaking, there has been one major ice age with smaller ones thrown in here and there. I believe one of the only reasons we have been able to progress the way we have scientifically and mentally, is due to a lull in the climatic swing of the planet. Temperatures have been warm and somewhat constant over the last 9,000 years, being condusive to agriculture and population growth. Throw in an ice age or some global warming and watch what happens.......
at 18:35 on October 4th, 2008
Great explanation Jared. Thanks!
at 05:26 on October 5th, 2008
Jared Aicher - Storm Chaser, I like this story. It's enlightening stuff. But I wonder is it possible that dramatic ice ages occur more consistantly than once every 100,000 years?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/10/981002082033.htm
And Hapgood's theory that a pole shift took place 10,000 years ago is food for thought...
at 23:58 on October 9th, 2008
still waiting for the sun cycleno great change in the skip here,still the normal europeanwall here so soon as the usa drops in on 20m then italy russia germany with excessive power blast the whole of england into the water read some were that dec08/jan09 the first signs will show them selfs hope so m3xli