Article

2019-06-06 Science & Technology

Have we reached solar minimum? The sun has been without spots for 16 consecutive days - and it could lead to magnetic storms that interrupt air travel, satellites and power grids

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Posted by Skidmark 2019-06-06 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 probably need the hysteria watermark

Posted by chris 2019-06-06 06:58|| 2019-06-06 06:58|| Front Page Top

#2 As if millions of quack scientists' and politicians' voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened...to grant and tax monies.

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-06-06 08:48|| 2019-06-06 08:48|| Front Page Top

#3 So what did happen 11 years ago?

Posted by Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2019-06-06 09:14|| 2019-06-06 09:14|| Front Page Top

#4 As if millions of quack scientists' and politicians' voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened...to grant and tax monies.

Yep, that's Snark of the Day!

Posted by SteveS 2019-06-06 09:19|| 2019-06-06 09:19|| Front Page Top

#5 So what did happen 11 years ago?

Obama was elected?

Posted by Skidmark 2019-06-06 09:47|| 2019-06-06 09:47|| Front Page Top

#6 NOAA Sunspot predictions from April 20, 2007 has a range from 2018-2020, so... not news, unless you are a "science" reporter and it's a slow news day, eh?

Posted by magpie 2019-06-06 11:25|| 2019-06-06 11:25|| Front Page Top

#7 actually, contrary to the article, coronal mass ejections are correlated with sunspot maxima although this correlation is weak and the causation of CMEs is not well understood

Posted by lord garth 2019-06-06 11:54|| 2019-06-06 11:54|| Front Page Top

#8 The every eleven years solar minimum is the basic model. However, periodically there is an extended minimum — y’all will remember the Little Ice Age, while the more technical are thinking about the Maunder Minimum while hoping for something more Dalton-like ...

At the tail end of last year Sarah Hoyt’s blog hosted a post on the latest proposal for an improved model that would account for these extended minima: The Latest on the Double-Dynamo Solar Model, and Dr. Zharkova’s Predictions of a Grand Minimum by Stephanie Osborne.

Bottom line, magnetic storms may not be all we need to worry about.

Posted by trailing wife 2019-06-06 13:57|| 2019-06-06 13:57|| Front Page Top

#9 First the Mooslims can't spot the moon, now Sun Spots are playing hide and seek? Oh my!

Posted by Frank G 2019-06-06 14:29|| 2019-06-06 14:29|| Front Page Top

#10 Two interesting things about Dr. Zharkova's work:
1) it is based on a statistical analysis of solar activity, NOT the predictions of a computer model.
2) Rather than predicting generic gloom and doom that *could* happen in the future, she makes a specific, testable prediction - that the next few years will be very cold. As she says, we will see if she is right.

As tw points out, this is not your usual every 11 years solar minimum but a Big-Ass Solar Minimum, like back when the Thames used to freeze over. It's worth watching Dr. Zharkova's presentation rather than filtering the idea through 'journalism'. No offense to their mums, but when it comes to a grasp of science, most journalists lack opposable thumbs.

Posted by SteveS 2019-06-06 14:56|| 2019-06-06 14:56|| Front Page Top

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