NOAA is currently redefining sunspecks as actual sunspots to discredit the recurring Dalton Minimum approaching:
http://www.iceagenow.com/NOAA_inflating_sunspot_counts.htm
“NOAA inflating sunspot counts
A Dalton Minimum could sneak up on us announced
15 Jul 11 - “NOAA is inflating their Sunspot count by counting specks,” says reader Al Morris. “To get a more scientific count that compares to the old Wolf Sunspot number please review the Landscheidt website.”
http://www.landscheidt.info/?q=node/50
A brief history on the evolution of the sunspot count
Johann Rudolf Wolf, born in 1816, reconstructed the sunspot record back to 1749 using the geomagnetic record as his baseline. Wolf used this background scale to adjust the values taken before 1847 to align with his count. His reconstruction is backed up by the Group Sunspot Number which shows very similar cycles during the Dalton Minimum. The depth of the Dalton Minimum is beyond question.
In the 1880s, Wolf’s successor, Wolfer, began counting all small spots and pores and recorded each umbral area within a penumbra. Because this differed from the Wolf method, Wolfer introduced a reduction factor to his figures in order to align with Wolf.
Modern counting methods are different.
In essence, NOAA does not use Wolfer’s reduction factor, which means that they count the small spots and pores that Wolf did not count.
This means that a Dalton Minimum or Maunder Minimum could very well sneak up on us announced.
Today, 15 July 2011, the NOAA count shows five sunspots whereas the The Layman’s Sunspot Count on the Landscheidt website shows only three.
I agree with Al Morris. I think The Layman’s Sunspot Count will give us a better comparison with past history, so that’s what I’ll use from now on.
- Robert”
We are going to need coal for heat in the winter, with cooler falls and springs than in the past, just as Obama, the EPA are reducing our use of coal.
Lousy science, twisted so that old readings cannot be meaningfully compared to new ones.
The overall surface area of the sun occupied by sunspots might be a better measure of spot activity. This is more difficult to evaluate than spot count.
Thanks for the links & info.
Good post