The Sun Loses its Spots. Maybe it’s the Calm Before the Storm !
August 7, 2007 at 7:01 pm | In Feroz Khan Hamid, Space | 1 CommentWhile sidewalks crackle in the summer heat, NASA scientists are keeping a close eye on the sun. It is almost spotless, a sign that the Sun may have reached solar minimum. Scientists are now watching for the first spot of the new solar cycle to appear.
The 11 year long solar cycle is marked by two extremes, solar minimum and solar maximum. Solar minimum is the period of least solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During this time sunspot and solar flare activity diminishes, and often does not occur for days at a time.
When spots begin to appear on the sun once again, scientists know that the sun is heading into a new season of extreme solar activity. At the cycle’s peak, solar maximum, the sun is continually peppered with spots, solar flares erupt, and the sun hurls billion-ton clouds of electrified gas into space.
Solar maximum is often compared to the hurricane season here on Earth. Violent solar events, like flares and coronal mass ejections, are the hurricanes of space weather. These solar storms are capable of wreaking havoc with satellites, power grids, and radio communication, including the Global Positioning System.
NOAA’s Space Environment Center, Boulder CO, forecasts that the next solar cycle should begin in March 2008 and should peak in late 2011 or mid 2012.
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July 2008
We are in for a bumpy ride. Here in Vancouver and Kamloops BC we are witnessing power outages.
Still waiting for verdict of cause, but ‘coincidently around the world power outages were reported.
What I am trying to understand is if the solar activity is negligiable at present, does that mean the solar wind around the planet has been accumulating plasma EM intensity during this two and 1\2 year period? And if so, is this the cause of blackouts and powersurges.
Comment by Mary of Vancouver BC — July 16, 2008 #