The 2 Sides of Solar Maximum 24

A few quick questions for those of you that know more about the Solar cycles than me.

Why have we had warnings regarding this 24th solar maximum as possibly being the worst ever, or at least in a long time?

Why on the other side do we have scientists also dismissing it and saying basically that this happens every 11 years, no worries?

Essentially, why is this one special? Is this merely 2012 hype, and if so, why?

Thanks for participating!

Conspiracy theorists vs 'normal' folk. A battle as old as time itself...

My guess is because this cycle happens on a 'special' date, 2012.

There are books and DVD's to be sold. That's why!

Solar Cycle 24 is predicted to peak in May of 2013.
It is also predicted to have a lower than average number of sunspots.

www.swpc.noaa.gov...

[edit on 6/25/2009 by Phage]

It may be another false "alarm" like last October but it seems that el sol has reawakened:

sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov...

It is kind of exciting to me but mostly because I am more aware and into these sort of things these days...

reply to post by Chemley


Here you go. One stop shopping for all your Solar Cycle needs.
www.solarcycle24.com...

Click here for more information.

reply to post by Phage


Yes. That is interesting. I could swear that I remember 2011 being marked for possible solar storms but am not finding the link(s) right now so maybe my imagination, admittedly. Using ATS as a first source for "news" has its advantages and disadvantages obviously. Thanks for the link.

Anyone else remember and / or have sources regarding this particular cycle being potentially troubling?

reply to post by Jackie Chan


Well, thanks. I hope that all is well in your head. I cannot begin to tell you how much you have contributed to my belief that I am, in fact, not insane. Maybe your post was intended for a different sort of forum. Lord knows there are plenty around to suite your desires. In the meantime, I would like to hear any thoughts you have regarding solar maximum 24. I use these icons sparingly, but you sir, deserve this ->

reply to post by Phage


Super cool site. Noted and bookmarked. Thank you for that! Anyone else reading this thread from any perspective, please, check out Phage's link. Thanks again!

There have been reports of the magnetic shield of the earth has "cracks", allowing particles to enter the atmosphere and also not protecting us as well from a solar storm. Right now we are in a solar minimum but the worry is that when the sun becomes active again it may cause problems above what usually happens during solar storms (increased interference, etc.)

news.nationalgeographic.com...

"The magnetic fields of the sun and Earth are expected to be in alignment around the time of the next peak, which could amplify the storms’ effects."

blogs.discovermagazine.com...

Originally posted by CINY8
There have been reports of the magnetic shield of the earth has "cracks", allowing particles to enter the atmosphere and also not protecting us as well from a solar storm. Right now we are in a solar minimum but the worry is that when the sun becomes active again it may cause problems above what usually happens during solar storms (increased interference, etc.)

news.nationalgeographic.com...

"The magnetic fields of the sun and Earth are expected to be in alignment around the time of the next peak, which could amplify the storms’ effects."

blogs.discovermagazine.com...

There it is. A lovely blue star for you. I very much appreciate that. Thank you!

reply to post by CINY8

The breaches in the magnetosphere were only recently discovered because we only recently had the means of observing them. There is no reason to believe that they are unusual. In fact, since the first (and huge) one was found very shortly after the THEMIS satellites were launched in 2007, it is likely that it is a fairly frequent occurrence and could have been present during previous Solar Maximums.

The breaches do not allow the solar wind to enter the atmosphere. They allow the particles to enter the magnetosphere, very, very far above the atmosphere. They are temporary phenomena.

[edit on 6/25/2009 by Phage]

reply to post by CINY8


Ok, this struck me as interesting:

"You can sort of compare [the situation] to a gas stove," Raeder said. "If you turn on the gas and you light it right away, nothing will happen—the gas stove will go on and there will be a flame. "But if you turn on a gas stove and you don't do anything for a while and then you throw in a match, what will happen? It will say, Boom!"

news.nationalgeographic.com... html

Second page of the article is the source of the quote. Thanks

reply to post by Phage


That makes sense. Next question:

If these charged particles are in the atmosphere what will cause them to discharge? Is there a correlation to the recent influx in deadly lightning strikes? Are these natural discharges to "ground", the earth?

abcnews.go.com...

reply to post by Chemley


They are not in the atmosphere. They are in the magnetosphere, more than 1 thousand miles above the surface.



Any influence would be secondary but as stated, they could lead to greater intensity of geomagnetic storms.

reply to post by Phage


Well, any relation to this then? www.abovetopsecret.com... Just wondering your thoughts. Starting to become a chat session between us a bit here. But I certainly appreciate it.

ok lets see i learned this stuff not too long ago in my astronomy class
the 11 year cycle refers to the suns magnetic field switching N to S and vice versa... the peak of the current 11 year cycle is around 2012 if i remember correctly. sunspots also run on this cycle.

basically the sun is rotating on its axis at different speeds called differential rotation it takes 25 days around the poles and roughly 35 at the equator. this causes the magnetic field to loop around itself until it snaps, breaks whatever you wanna call it and it should result in a solar flare.

now these breaks in the field tend to be around sunspots. if i remember what my professor said i think we have the lowest number of sunspots in a good amount of time any pro astronomer could verify this im sure. it is expected to have a "good" number of sunspots coming up in the next cycle which could end up in more solar flares.

from my understanding solar flares only do damage if they are released towards earth, for us at least. not 100% sure though. but if thats true the real danger from this new cycle coming up is we have much more electronics controlling how we operate. the flares could take out all kinds of satellites: comms, gps, etc... it could also affect our vehicles, power plants, airplanes, radios just a bout every electronic could be damaged. causing panic and chaos...probably.

just to clarify im not an expert by any means this is what i remember from my class thought it could help the discussion

reply to post by stargazer13


Thanks for that. It does make a lot of sense to me that only the flares targeted towards earth would cause us the most problems. I also consider that the electronic support systems for earth based communications are probably at greater risk given the amount of transmissions to space and back at this time. I suppose that these systems do not have the same protection as systems on the earth. It seems that we rely on a lot more information indirectly from space this solar maximum compared to the last (or really any that we know of).