The Resurgent Sun
Evidence is mounting that some solar cycles are doubled-peaked. The ongoing solar maximum may itself be a double -- and the second peak has arrived.
January 18, 2002: Every 11 years solar activity reaches a fever pitch: Solar flares erupt near sunspots on a daily basis. Coronal mass ejections, billion-ton clouds of magnetized gas, fly away from the Sun and buffet the planets. Even the Sun's awesome magnetic field -- as large as the solar system itself -- grows unstable and flips.
It's a turbulent time called Solar Max.
The most recent (and ongoing) Solar Max crested in mid-2000. Sunspot counts were higher than they had been in 10 years, and solar activity was intense. One remarkable eruption on July 14, 2000 -- the so-called "Bastille Day Event" -- sparked brilliant auroras as far south as Texas, caused electrical brown-outs, and temporarily disabled some satellites.
After that, sunspot counts slowly declined and the Sun was relatively quiet for month-long stretches. Solar Max was subsiding.
But now, as 2002 unfolds, it's back. The Sun is again peppered with spots, and eruptions are frequent. Says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center: "The current solar cycle appears to be double-peaked," and the second peak has arrived.
...
science.nasa.gov |
