The Sun is Switching its Polarity
Within the next 3 or 4
months our sun is going to reverse its polarity. Observatories are watching the events of this
normal 11 year solar cycle and trying to describe what this means to us. This magnetic flip marks the mid-point in the
sun’s solar maximum which is the peak of its solar weather cycle. The north magnetic pole has already changed
sign and the South Pole is skewed and moving quickly to align properly with its
natural counterpart. This holds
consequences for the blunt skulls of Earth.
All of this is occurring during the weakest solar maximum in 100
years. Usually these maximums are
associated with high sunspot activity and the solar flares and ejections that
accompany them. All of these phenomenon
have been less pronounced than usual, despite the grand dark matter prominence
that was photographed, shooting out from the sun’s surface on August 13-14 of
this year. The triggering mechanism of
these prominences, by the way, is unknown, but the cooler, darker gases are
suspended above the sun’s surface because of unstable magnetic forces.
The flipping of the sun’s magnetic field (yes, the Earth
has one also, and it has flipped several times as well, but in no demonstrable
cycle) causes the sheet of solar current that stretches far across the solar
system to ripple. When planets travel
through these ripples they create storms of space weather. These storms are not necessarily
malevolent. For example, the ripples in
the current sheet disrupt cosmic rays which are dangerous to humans.
The sun’s 11 year cycles are watched closely by
scientists because the strength of the new magnetic polarity affects the number,
frequency and size of sunspots and solar prominences. If the sun bounces back strongly from the
magnetic shift, the solar cycle will be active.
If the shift is lethargic and slow, so also will be the sunspot
cycle. Our present Solar Cycle (# 24)
has been an anemic one. The same can be
said for the last 30 years of solar activity.
Of note, this lack of sunspot activity correlates with some interesting
history on earth.
What
is frequently left out of a conversation about global warming (which is a fact)
is the part that solar cycles play in our climate. The Maunder Minimum, a period of absolutely
no sunspot activity in the late 17th century, corresponded with the Little
Ice Age, a period from around 1650 to 1715.
Modern scientists believe that there has been a slow but steady increase
in both sunspots and global temperatures since the end of the Little Ice Age. The number of sunspots is roughly
proportional to the amount of solar irradiance, which in turn both warms and
excites the atmosphere. While the sun
has been on the lazy side lately, the late 20th century saw a steady
rise in sunspot activity and many researchers believe they may be responsible
for as much as half of the 0.6 degrees of global warming over the last 110
years.
The planet’s warming period between the last
two ice ages produced warmer temperatures than we are experiencing now and this
at a time when humans weren’t putting anything in the atmosphere other than
mere flatulence.
Scientists can and do
argue about the effect this solar activity has on our planet, but they can’t
argue about the earth’s history. We do
know that something was dramatically changing our weather long before the Industrial
Revolution and those damn Republicans. I
think that another cycle or two of weak sunspot activity may prove just that.
Enjoy
a sunny day and keep the faith.
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