Posted on 06/14/2010 7:43:23 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The sun's temper ebbs and flows on what scientists had thought was a pretty predictable cycle, but lately our closest star has been acting up.
Typically, a few stormy years would knock out a satellite or two and maybe trip a power grid on Earth. Then a few years of quiet, and then back to the bad behavior. But an extremely long stretch of low activity in recent years has scientists baffled and scrambling for better forecasting models.
An expected minimum of solar activity, between 2008 and 2009, was unusually deep. And while the sun would normally ramp up activity by now, heading into its next cycle, the sun may be on the verge of a weak solar cycle instead, astronomers said at the 216th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Miami last month.
"We're witnessing something unlike anything we've seen in 100 years," said David Hathaway of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The sun's constant interaction with Earth makes it important for solar physicists to keep track of solar activity. Stormy periods can force special safety precautions by satellite operators and power grid managers, and astronauts can be put at risk from bursts of radiation spat out by solar storm. Scientists need to more reliably predict what's in store.
At the conference, four solar physicists presented four very different methods of measuring and tracking solar cycles.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Thanks, I couldn’t get the html tags to work.
.— .... .- - .. ... .— .-. -— -. —. .— .. - .... — -— .-. ... . -.-. -— -..?
One hundred years worth of data is an absurdly short period of
time on which to base predictions.
Ignore it. It just wants attention.
LOL. Pompous, aren't they? 100 years of solar record-keeping out of the Earth's 4,500 million-year history! Hubris.
I have like *1 hour* left on my DishNetwork DVR because I refuse to erase that movie and about 10 others too good to “throw away”.
[and probably 40 hours worth of “Ghost Hunters” reruns]...LOL
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/greenwch/spot_num.txt
Looks like the Jan. - Mar. uptick in sunspots has fizzled out in April and May.
/73s johnny
Theory seems to go along the lines of "The Sun's magnetic field is strong when the Sun is active. That shields the Earth from incoming cosmic radiation. Cosmic radiation causes ionization of the atmosphere....which promotes cloud formation which reflects away solar radiation (heat)".
More clouds equals lower temps. Reverse it (the Sun) and you get less clouds and higher temps.
Time will tell....in about 40 years.
This is old news to anyone that has been following the sun for the last two years. The sun spots were “supposed to” ramp up a couple of years ago. This next “high”, if the pattern follows, won’t be very high. Hard to predict ahead of time, but there are indicators.
I just hope it will only be like the “Maunder Minimum” (Little Ice Age) if it follows past solar cycle patterns.
The pattern that always scares me is the long-term termperatures of interglacial periods. The warm period we are in is the longest. And the temps drop very far and very quickly when they do.
YES....another 400 year mini ice age if we are lucky.
last one was from 1350 to 1750
//Why do they think the Suns behavior is strange? Just because they have never seen it before?//
Sounds like it. Maybe if they wag their finger at it like duh one the Sun will straighten up and act right /sarc>
today there are only 2 sunspots up.
And all the SUVs in the world won't make a damn bit of difference.
Wow! 100 years of observations of a 4.5 billion year old star. These guys should have it all figured out by now.
ping
Perhaps our sun is finally out of it's adolescent years?
“But an extremely long stretch of low activity in recent years has scientists baffled and scrambling for better forecasting models.”
The solution is quite simple. Al Gore’s people have a good handle on forecasting so all they need to do is get in touch with Al. sarc
Bookmark...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.