Houston, We Have a Sunspot

Solar Cycle 24.com ^ | Friday, July 18, 2008 | Kevin VE3EN

[C210N]

but what does it meeeeean?

You know, there is an eerie resemblance of this sunspot to the small blur to the left of "State" in the seal of Obomba's Certificate of Live Birth.

Just pure coincidence? Perhaps...

... or perhaps not...

[unkus]

Thanks. I appreciate the explanation. Interesting stuff.

[zeestephen]

A rocket must be filled with Accutane and fired directly into this solar lesion.

[unkus]

Isn’t ocean warming due in large part to underwater volcanos?

[sauropod]

home

[plsvn]

but official start of cycle 24 is not noted until the cycle 24 spots average (3 months I think) exceeds cycle 23 spots average.

I didn't know that. I thought cycle 24 began when the first cycle 24 spot appeared which did occur some time back (a high latitude spot?).

[kinsman redeemer]

All right. Good. Let me ask: What difference does the polarity make to earthlings? Is it electrical polarity?

Thanks.

[SierraWasp]

"but what does it meeeeean?"

It either means the sun is a relative "teenager," or that it's been loading up on too much chocalate or other rich food... Maybe it needs a dab of retin A... Could even be a lack of hygene...

[SierraWasp]

Sauropod phone “home!”

[Myrddin]

In additional to the observable polarity, the cycle 23 sunspots will be mostly near the equator of the sun. The cycle 24 sunspots will begin appearing at high latitudes.

[Marie]

It’s a 23 sunspot. There were two areas in the higher latitudes which were SC24 activity, but they didn’t form sunspots.

[Myrddin]

Is it electrical polarity?

It's magnetic polarity.

[aruanan]

As you can see in the new solar images, a new sunspot has formed. This one belongs to Cycle 23 because of its magnetic signature. This ends the streak of spotless days.

There have been several other tiny sunspots like this since January.

[the anti-liberal]

Today, Director of the SSRC, John Casey has reaffirmed earlier research he led that independently discovered the sun’s changes are the result of a family of cycles that bring about climate shifts from cold climate to warm and back again.

“We today confirm the recent announcement by NASA that there are historic and important changes taking place on the sun’s surface. This will have only one outcome - a new climate change is coming that will bring an extended period of deep cold to the planet. This is not however a unique event for the planet although it is critically important news to this and the next generations. It is but the normal sequence of alternating climate changes that has been going on for thousands of years. Further according to our research, this series of solar cycles are so predictable that they can be used to roughly forecast the next series of climate changes many decades in advance. I have verified the accuracy of these cycles’ behavior over the last 1,100 years relative to temperatures on Earth, to well over 90%.”

Changes in the Sun’s Surface to Bring Next Climate Change

[kalee]

ping

[Frank Sheed]

You call that a "knife," mate? This here is a knife!"

[Marie]

So, what will be the significance of entering cycle 24?

Warmer weather, better harvests, butter quality of life for humans... It's a good thing.

The sun goes through 11 year cycles, but 24 hasn't been ramping up as it was predicted to. The concern is that we're due for another little ice age right about now and some people are concerned that it's going to start with this solar cycle. This means colder, wetter (in some places) weather and poor crop harvests. That is if you're in the camp that believes that it's the sun which controls the weather and temperatures.

The BIG concern (which I do not, at this time, share.) is that we're due to enter another big ice age. If this happens, life on the planet will cease to exist as we know it.

The thing to remember is that *normal* weather for this planet is much colder than what we're experiencing now. We go through 100-120,000 year cycles (roughly) with about 10,500 year warm periods called interglacial periods. We're right at the end of the present interglacial period and it wouldn't be surprising for the world temperatures to start dropping back to ice age conditions.

The question right now is, how fast does this happen? Some people think it takes thousands of years for the temps to gradually drop, others say it could be as fast as 20-50 years. Honestly, nobody really knows. If the latter theory is correct, we'd be in deep trouble. (I think we have more time and that it's a more gradual transition.)

Personally, I think that we're heading into another Dalton or Maunder-type minimum, but I don't know if it's going to happen this cycle or the next one. That would be bad enough.

So we're rooting for 24 to ramp up and do well. It's sure taking it's sweet time, though.

The problem is that solar science is relatively new and we really don't understand everything that affects our sun. We have no idea how it behaves during an ice age or how it looks during a transition. All we know is that it's behaving differently than it has for the last few cycles. It will take time to figure out what that means.

I hope I explained it well enough. I'm still trying to figure all of it out for myself right now.

[Marie]

I thought cycle 24 began when the first cycle 24 spot appeared which did occur some time back (a high latitude spot?)

As far I know, milwguy is correct. SC24 won't officially begin until 24 spots outnumber 23 spots. We're still in SC23. I believe we've only had three 24 spots and it's been about 3.5 months since the last one.

[Frank Sheed]

Personally, I think that we're heading into another Dalton or Maunder-type minimum, but I don't know if it's going to happen this cycle or the next one. That would be bad enough.

Aren't both of those minima about 5 - 7 C cooler on average? We're talking the grain belt dropping south into Florida, and Canada a lot colder...

[Marie]

That’s a fairly profound statement from NASA. I’ll have to dig into that one a bit more today.