Fading sunspots suggest years of impending cold
by Steven Mostyn - Jun 17 2011, 19:40
Not as hot as it looks, apparently. Image: NASA.
When it comes to the sun, most news reports tend to focus on the potential effects and risks associated with solar winds and solar flares. However, this week sees the usual stories of impending heatwaves replaced by something significantly more bracing.
Space.com reports that scientists have uncovered a number of fading sunspots on the star’s surface, which they claim may indicate the sun is heading for a lengthy period of reduced heat activity.
“The solar cycle may be going into a hiatus,” commented Frank Hill, associate director of the National Solar Observatory’s Solar Synoptic Network, during a news briefing.
“This is highly unusual and unexpected,” he added. “But the fact that three completely different views of the sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation.”
Other telltale indicators that the sun’s next sunspot cycle may be significantly weaker include a missing jet stream and reduced activity around the star’s magnetic poles.
Each solar cycle takes around 11 years to complete and the current cycle, which recently passed its minimum, is due to end in 2019.
Some experts have suggested the impending cooling period could possibly balance out the negative atmospheric effects of global warming suffered by our planet due to manmade greenhouse gases.
However, Hill has been quick to label such interpretations as “a huge leap” because connections between solar activity and the Earth’s climate “are still very poorly understood.”
The studies were announced earlier this week during the annual meeting of the solar physics division of the American Astronomical Society, which was held at the New Mexico State University.
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