Posted on 05/31/2020 6:40:04 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Today's flare was an M-class eruption, so it was no monster. (And it wasn't aimed at Earth, so there's no chance of supercharged auroras from a potential associated coronal mass ejection of solar plasma.) But the outburst could still be a sign that the sun is ramping up to a more active phase of its 11-year activity cycle, NASA officials said. If that's the case, the most recent such cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, may already have come to an end.
Scientists peg the start of new cycles at "solar minimum," the time when the sun sports the fewest sunspots and the least activity.
"However, it takes at least six months of solar observations and sunspot-counting after a minimum to know when it's occurred," NASA officials wrote today in an update announcing SDO's flare detection.
"Because that minimum is defined by the lowest number of sunspots in a cycle, scientists need to see the numbers consistently rising before they can determine when exactly they were at the bottom," the officials added. "That means solar minimum is an instance only recognizable in hindsight: It could take six to 12 months after the fact to confirm when minimum has actually passed."
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
According to Spaceweather:
“RETURN TO QUIET: A new-cycle sunspot that unleashed a flurry of solar flares on May 29th has disintegrated—so quickly that it didn’t even have time to be officially numbered. Solar Minimum is back.”
This is like telling a drought stricken land that a sprinkle occurred 1000 miles up stream. So what.
Once the sun spit activity begins in earnest, which is not expected till around 2031 (SC 25), it will take a bit if time (thermal inertia and lag time,)to begin to add energy to our planet.
We will see cooling for quite some time, and then a gradual increase in door energy. Iow, cooler climate will be on tap for a decade or more AFTER Sun spot activity ramps up.
A burp is not a ride change.
Invest in warm clothes and such. You can always take some off. More if you’re in good shape, no one wants to see blubber etc.
Shouldn't that be in bad shape?
More “off”....
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