The disappointing sunspot count of 2013

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Moonage

Two headlines making the circuit right now:

Something unexpected is happening on the Sun. 2013 was supposed to be the year of “solar maximum,” the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. Yet 2013 has arrived and solar activity is relatively low. Sunspot numbers are well below their values from 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent.

AND:

Global temperatures are warmer than at any time in at least 4,000 years, scientists reported Thursday, and over the coming decades are likely to surpass levels not seen on the planet since before the last ice age.
Related in Opinion

Previous research had extended back roughly 1,500 years, and suggested that the rapid temperature spike of the past century, believed to be a consequence of human activity, exceeded any warming episode during those years. The new work confirms that result while suggesting the modern warming is unique over a longer period.

As usual, there is no connection made between the sun and global warming stories. They WILL tell you it’s all man-made and that the sun does not affect the Earth’s climate. As usual, we are just expected to believe this is just another coincidence.

News flash people, driving electric cars and using more expensive light bulbs will barely mitigate the Sun’s impact on Earth’s climate. And, the Sun has been noticeably hotter the last thirty years. It’s at a maximum in it’s cycle and NOTHING is happening. Those sunspots and solar storms COOL the sun. And, I would guess, cool the Earth as well.

When someone presents an argument that includes all of the obvious impacts on Earth’s climate and what we can do to exist within those parameters, I’ll buy into it. Ignoring the most obvious impact and blaming it all on man is just stupid, and in most cases so far, is doing more harm than good.

Public Opinion Poll Results

Cell phones all staticy?

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Moonage

This is most likely why:

If that had been pointing at us, your phones would not be working at all. And guess what, it’s spinning our way!

Earthquakes and sunspots

Posted on April 4, 2010 by Moonage

We had a pretty good little earthquake in the western part of the country. Supposedly about 7.2 based in Baja California. That got me thinking that it seemed we have had a lot of big earthquakes of late. And, it got me thinking of another thing happening right now. So, doing as I am prone to do, I put them together. Here is how they stack up:

Earthquakes in general have dropped some very recently. Bigger ones have picked up this year, but the smaller ones are still lagging way behind normal.

And the stat everyone’s familiar with now, sunspots are on the upswing. Notice anything unusual about the two? More energy coming from the sun, fewer earthquakes. The only real thought I have is things move more smoothly on liquids than they do solids. The more molten the core is, the easier stuff floating on it moves.

There’s the hypothesis

However, most astronomers will tell you the sun has no impact on Earth’s climate. So therefore, this must be just another one of those amazing coincidences involving an activity on Earth and activity on the Sun.

The Big Storm last night

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Moonage

I couldn’t sleep at all last night. It was one of those nights where you just lay there wide awake, ready to party. Finally about 4 or so I nodded off. Of course, that was right before the Shuttle launch. But, after getting cranked up watching the Saints win the Super Bowl, watching a launch would have wrecked what little chance at sleep I had left. So, I just lay there and waited, knowing SOMETHING must be keeping me awake. Finally, this morning, I read the news and saw immediately what the problem was:

There was a major storm last night. Now, this wasn’t one of those piddly snow storms dropping a couple of feet of snow on the East Coast, this was a major outburst of energy probably made a lot of static inside my brain, which would be really loud. Yeah, that sounds goofy, but first time I couldn’t sleep in months just happens to be right when the first MAJOR sunspot in years hits? Something’s gotta be there. I’m sure most learned scientists would tell you there’s no way possible a solar storm could affect my sleep. Of course, those same people are quick to tell us there is no way sunspots affect our climate either.

Sunspot 1029 and the CME

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Moonage

So far Cycle 24 has been a dud. That’s not terribly important since it’s so early in it’s life. However, it makes for very boring sun gazing. However, things have picked up a little.

We had an actual Coronal Mass Ejection! It was little, but I still love them:

And now we have a “growing” sunspot. They say that because it’s tiny right now:

Sunspot 1029

About time.

Sunspot 1024

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Moonage

Check this out:

Sunspot 1024 at Spaceweather

Finally a decent sunspot. According to Spaceweather, it’s about the size of Jupiter and growing. Nothing to get terribly excited about other than the fact it pretty much kicks off solare cycle 24. Which, of course, is off to a remarkably slow start. According to Spaceweather.com, there’s more to come. I can’t wait. This lack of activity is creeping me out.

Global Cooling on CNN

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Moonage

Joseph D’Aleo of the International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project (ICECAP) was on Lou Dobbs last night. He’s making the argument that the Earth is not warming at all, but is in fact cooling. He bases his argument on several issues. I found the entire article interesting because:

He claims that world mean temperatures have been skewed because a lot of rural data gathering discontinued after 1990. This skewed the data to more urban areas. Urban areas are warmer than their surrounding rural areas. I’ve been saying that for five years here.
The sun’s activity has been much slower than usual. We’ve not experienced sunspot activity this low for many years. Sun’s weather activity affects our own. Me and the Farmer’s Almanac have been saying that for years. OK, the Farmer’s Almanac has been saying it a lot longer.
He thinks over-reacting to Al Gore’s plans would create an economic mess and potentially cause more harm than good.

Biggest thing to me is this was on CNN. That just seems to be a huge shift in policy from their normal programming.

Happy New Cycle!

Posted on January 5, 2008 by Moonage

This major solar storm marks the beginning of the new solar cycle. According to the article on MSNBC, these sunspots, or storms, can:

…can affect Earth by disrupting electrical grids, airline and military communications, GPS signals and even cell phones, the agency said.

However, according to those who should know more, they have absolutely no effect on Earth’s climate or weather. I really think otherwise. Look at that pic again and look at how little Earth is compared to all that energy. Granted, it dissipates before it gets here, it’s still a load of energy that affects satellites and stuff in space. But, according to them, that has no effect on Earth alone. I’m a tough sell on that issue. Today is the beginning of that cycle. Let’s see what happens around 2010 or so.

Do sunspots foretell heavy rains?

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Moonage

Well, apparently someone read my blog:

Periodic peaks in the number of visible sunspots may help predict heavy rains and subsequent disease outbreaks in East Africa, according to a controversial new study. Although previously questioned, the sunspot-rainfall link suggests that many of East Africa’s wettest rainy seasons during the 20^th century were closely associated with highpoints in the mysterious solar cycle that yields the sun’s large dark blotches.

The take-home message, researchers concluded in the latest issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, is that careful scrutiny of past climatic conditions may generate better long-term predictions of destructive weather events in the future.

There’s a lot more reading to that article, and it’s interesting. I’ve been “guessing” there is a connection here for a long time. Other cycles just correlate to closely to the hurricane cycles for a long time. Hurricanes involve lots of rain. So, apparently J. Curt Stager noticed this as well.

I really like the part that I think explains all the doubt of why such a simple correlation could exist:

“The weak part,” Stager conceded, “is we don’t know exactly why it works.”

That has always been a weakness of man. When he doesn’t understand, he either dismisses it or attacks it. My request is this learned field of scientists just simply try to figure why this COULD happen. If, in the process of trying to figure out why this COULD work, no explanation is found, then I’d be a lot more comfortable in believing that it doesn’t work. But, to dismiss something as simple as violent solar activity affecting a very close planet while at the same time telling me there is stuff out there that they can neither find or fully explain just never has flown with me. There’s a connection, it’s just a matter of figuring out how much of an impact that connection truly is.

Keeping an eye on the Sun

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Moonage

I asked a question on August 24, 2005. It was a simple question. It was largely ignored.

How will this affect Katrina and the waves?

Now, when I asked the question, Katrina was barely a named storm. I like keeping an eye on two things this time of the year, hurricanes and solar storms. So, I noticed something was happening on the Sun. Namely this:

Within a couple of days, Katrina would be a category five monster that pretty much destroyed a good part of New Orleans. Let’s fast forward two years almost to the day and see what the Sun’s up to now:

Not quite as active, but coming around the corner is a pretty good blast. However, according to NOAA, no hurricane activity is expected within the next 48 hours. So, maybe this year we’ll get a pass.

Or, the NOAA may get a surprise. We’ll see. My “bet” right now is there is nothing for this little sunburst to excite, which is a good thing.

Moonage Spacedream

It's full of stars

Tag Archives: sunspot