Sun Still Sans Spots

pettyfog · Apr 24, 2008

Not Good AGW news

Where is Solar Cycle 24? Look very, very carefully at the dramatic image of the Sun today, April 24 [above; also NASA’s ‘Soho’ website]. Can you see the tiny, tiny brownish spot towards the top right? That is ‘Sunspot 992’, and it is fading [if you want to know how sunspots are numbered, see ‘Sunspot Numbers’ at the excellent spaceweather.com]. The next 11-year cycle of solar storms (known as Solar Cycle 24) was predicted to have begun in autumn, 2006, but it appears to have been seriously delayed [see: ‘Spotty Science’, November 21]. It was then expected to take off in March last year, and to peak in late-2011, or mid-2012. But, as you can see for yourself from the image, the Sun remains spotless, except for one fading spot. This delayed onset has somewhat confused the official Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel, leaving them evenly split on whether a weak or a strong period of solar storms now lies ahead.
. . . . . . . . .
The sunspot number follows a cycle of somewhat variable length, averaging 11 years. The most recent minimum was in March last year. The new cycle, No.24, was supposed to start soon after that, with a gradual build-up in sunspot numbers.

It didn’t happen. The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon.”

He then explains why these elusive sunspots might just prove to be highly significant:

“The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth’s climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790.

Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon’s Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was at least partly due to the lack of sunspots.”

Finally, Chapman makes an impassioned plea for the ‘warmists’:

“... to take off the blinkers and give some thought to what we should do if we are facing global cooling instead.

It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, but the fate of civilisation may be at stake.
Click to expand...

Tell the truth, I'm thinking 'Cosmic Convergence' has summat to do with it.

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Sun Still Sans Spots

pettyfog Well-Known Member

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Sun Still Sans Spots

pettyfog Well-Known Member

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