About a year or so ago, there were a few articles about the lack of evidence of solar cycle 25, which should be exhibiting itself at the poles, I believe. Any recent news on that?
There was an article last month about the sun’s magnetic field splitting.....last time this occured was during the Maunder Minimum if I remember correctly.
I believe that a new sunspot cycle technically begins when the magnetic polarity of appearing sunspot pairs reverses. The ‘spots’ are the cross sections of twisted magnetic field lines which poke, or ‘loop’, out of the Sun’s surface. They are dark because they are comparatively cooler than the surrounding solar surface. Their main effect on Earth climate is an indirect one involving charged particles from deep space [galactic cosmic rays] and the sun’s ability to repel them. The sun’s ability various with its fluctuating magnetic cycle.