Monday, July 11, 2011

Who Ya Gonna Call When the Sun Goes Out?

The solar magnetic field strength experienced a shift in 2007, and ol' Sol just ain't had the mojo since. 


Sunspots are anemic, too
'
At least NOAA is smart enough not to try drawing a linear trend line through cyclic data.  The seem a bit optimistic because I would have faired the blue line through the last two monthly point rather than take off from the two peak points.  One must discount outliers in favor of central values. 

Then there is the radio flux, which mimics the sunspot count


So it seems that the next solar cycle will be a low one, and some astrophysicists are predicting that the one after this may not develop at all. 

When the climate turns cold because the sun goes out, life can become hard.  Growing seasons shorten.  CO2 comes out of the atmosphere and thus plants grow less.  If we fall into a Dalton, let alone a Maunder, we may again see those picturesque post cards of snow enshrouded Christmases.  So pray for global warming, friends.  Throw another log on the fire. 

1 comment:

  1. For that matter, who ya' gonna call when Earth's magnetic field peters out, as it appears to be doing?

    ReplyDelete

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