Daily Archives: 11. August 2019


11.08.2019 - 22:20 [ arxiv.org ]

A Relationship between the Solar Rotation and Activity Analysed by Tracing Sunspot Groups

(10.11.2017)

Main result of our investigation is the finding that the Sun rotates more differentially at the minimum than at the maximum of activity during the 1977 – 2016 epoch. This is in agreement with theoretical predictions of reduced differential rotation in the presence of strong magnetic fields. Inverse correlation between equatorial rotation and solar activity was found by many authors before and is corroborated here regardless of the recent revision of sunspot number. The secular decrease of rotation velocity accompanying the increase of activity stopped in the last part of the 20th century when solar activity started to decrease. It was noted that when the significant peak of equatorial rotation velocity is observed during minimum of activity the strength of next maximum is smaller then the previous one. It was suggested that this finding might be connected to a decrease of the magnetic energy of the Sun.

11.08.2019 - 22:09 [ Phys.org ]

Researchers report possible solution to a long-standing solar mystery

(13.12.2016)

The team used several years of data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on NASA‘s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite to measure a sharp down-turn in the sun‘s rotation rate in its very outer 150km. Kuhn said, „This is a gentle torque that is slowing it down, but over the sun‘s 5 billion year lifetime it has had a very noticeable influence on its outer 35,000km.“ Their paper describes how this photon-braking effect should be at work in most stars.

This change in rotation at the sun‘s surface affects the large-scale solar magnetic field and researchers are now trying to understand how the solar magnetism that extends out into the corona and finally into the Earth‘s environment will be affected by this braking.

11.08.2019 - 22:08 [ ScienceAlert.com ]

The Sun Is Slowing Down, And Scientists Think They Finally Know Why

(16.12.2016)

To figure out what was going on, the team looked at 3.5 years of data from NASA‘s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, which has been observing the Sun since 2010.

Their data was taken from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, which looks at solar oscillations in the Sun‘s magnetic field.

They noticed that there had been a sharp slow-down in the Sun‘s rotation rate in its very outer 150 km layer, which they predict is due to something called the photon-braking effect.

11.08.2019 - 21:54 [ Observatoire de Paris ]

Centennial cycles of the solar activity and Earth rotation

(Oktober 2011)

The irregular and long-term variations of the Earth rotation are mainly caused by the displacements
of matter in different parts of the planet which excitation mechanism is the influence of the Sun and
solar activity cycles. The solar cycles can drive great number of geodynamical processes connected with the convections of the Earth fluids on the surface and inside the Earth. Many of climate and weather parameters are affected directly by the variations of the solar activity.

11.08.2019 - 21:47 [ Harvard.edu ]

Centennial cycles of the solar activity and Earth rotation

(Oktober 2011)

The centennial variations of the Universal Time UT1 and Length of Day LOD are investigated by means of long historical observational series of UT1 and LOD variations, which cover time span more than 3 centuries long. The correlation between the centennial cycles of the Earth rotation, climate and Total Solar Irradiance TSI is determined using the time series of North America temperature (2.2Ka) and precipitation (8Ka), Mean Sea Level MSL variations at Stockholm tide gauge station since 1774 and reconstructed TSI variations since 843. The model of the solar influences on the centennial and decadal cycles of the Earth rotation is based on a main centennial cycle and harmonics, ending by oscillation with period around 9a.

11.08.2019 - 21:38 [ Nils-Axel Mörner / suanet.ac.tz ]

Solar Wind, Earth’s Rotation and Changes in Terrestrial Climate

(08.03.2013)

Another effect of the interaction between the Solar Wind and the Earth’s magnetic field seems to be that it affects the Earth’s rate of rotation where Solar Minima lead to accelerations and Solar Maxima to decelerations (as discussed in previous papers; [2,5-10]). Several authors have noted a correlation between sunspot activity and Earth’s rotation [2,8-23] or Solar-planetary cycles and Earth’s rotation [10,24-32].

Golovkov [13] plotted Earth’s rate of rotation (spin rate) against sunspot numbers and found that high spin rates correlated with low sunspot numbers and low spin rates with high sunspot numbers. Mörner [2] plotted LOD against sunspot numbers for the period 1831–1995 and found a linear relationship where low LOD values (high spin rate) correlated with low sunspot numbers and high LOD values with high sunspot numbers. Consequently, the Earth’s rotation accelerates at low solar activity and decelerates at high solar activity.

The relations among solar activity, Solar Wind, variations in Earth’s atmospheric shielding capacity and variations in the Earth’s rate of rotation are expressed in Fig. 1

11.08.2019 - 21:32 [ Nils-Axel Mörner / core.ac.uk ]

Solar Wind, Earth’s Rotation and Changes in Terrestrial Climate

(2013)

Solar variability affects Earth climate. It is proposed that this forcing primarily goes via the interaction of the Solar Wind with the Earth’s magnetosphere, rather than via changes in irradiance, which is generally assumed. The cyclic variations in Solar Wind emission generate corresponding changes in the Earth’s rate of rotation (LOD), as recorded by correlations between sunspot numbers and LOD-variations. Variations in Earth’s rotation affect not only the atmospheric circulation but also the ocean circulation.

11.08.2019 - 21:00 [ ScienceNews.org ]

Every six years, Earth spins slightly faster and then slower

(10.07.2013)

The world turns slightly faster and slower on a regular 5.9-year cycle, a new study suggests. Researchers also found small speed changes that happen at the same time as sudden alterations in Earth’s magnetic field.

11.08.2019 - 20:46 [ Phys.org ]

Research pair find 5.9 year cycle of oscillations in length of day

(11.07.2013)

Unlike the ten year trend (believed to be caused by changes in the Earth‘s core) and the episodic jerks (scientists have detected 10 such events since 1969) the 5.9 year cycle was unexpected. Every 5.9 years, they claim, the planet undergoes a period of several months where the length of each day is longer or shorter than „normal.“ The researchers don‘t know what causes the cycle but suspect it has something to do with the core-mantle boundary.

Scientists are also interested in learning more about the episodic jerks that alter day-length for several months at a time—this new research has revealed that during each event, the Earth‘s geomagnetic field undergoes a similar effect. Scientists don‘t know why either occurs, but suspect they are connected.

11.08.2019 - 20:18 [ CBS News ]

On-Time Earth Baffles Scientists

(31. März 2003)

To make the world‘s official time agree with where the Earth actually is in space, scientists in 1972 started adding an extra „leap second“ on the last day of the year.

For 28 years, scientists repeated the procedure. But in 1999, they discovered the Earth was no longer lagging behind.

At the National Institute for Science and Technology in Boulder, spokesman Fred McGehan said most scientists agree the Earth‘s orbit around the sun has been gradually slowing for millennia. But he said they don‘t have a good explanation for why it‘s suddenly on schedule.

11.08.2019 - 19:48 [ Richard Panek / Washington Post ]

Everything you thought you knew about gravity is wrong

(02.08.2019)

“What are you talking about? Gravity is the force of attraction that makes things fall straight down.” But say it to a physicist, and the answer you’ll get is, “That’s right.”

I know, because those are the two answers I’ve been getting for the past few years, ever since I figured out that nobody knows what gravity is, and that just about nobody knows that nobody knows what gravity is. The exception is physicists: They know that nobody knows what gravity is, because they know that they don’t know what gravity is.

11.08.2019 - 19:02 [ arxiv.org ]

Anomalous post-newtonian terms and the secular increase of the astronomical unit

(14.10.2018)

In 2004 Krasinsky and Brumberg indicated that the analysis of all available radiometric measurements of distances between the Earth and the planets, and also the observations of martian landers and orbiters, showed that the Astronomical Unit is increasing at a rate 15 ± 4 meters per century [14]. Later on, a more careful analysis by Standish has shown that the secular rate is closer to 7 ± 2 meters per century [26]. Anyway, this is by far too large to be explained by the loss of solar mass due to solar wind and electromagnetic radiation. An explanation based upon tidal friction caused by the bulge produced by Earth gravity on the Sun has been proposed [17]. However, this model has not been validated and the detailed mechanism for this tidal friction is hypothetical. A secular effect on the eccentricity of planetary motions have been also unveiled by the recent detailed analysis of the Lunar orbit. The secular increase of the eccentricity is very small but, however, is clearly within the range of precision of Lunar laser ranging. This kind of unexplained observations,
after discarding any possible conventional explanation, could give rise to an arena where the status of General Relativity as a complete theory of gravity (at least, at the macroscopic level) could be tested.

In this paper we have assumed that a conventional explanation is not possible and that an extra force term is necessary in order to incorporate this behaviour in the post-newtonian formalism.

11.08.2019 - 18:45 [ Newsweek ]

NASA Shows Einstein Was Right: Our Sun Is Losing Mass—and Its Grip on Our Solar System

(19.01.2018)

As our sun gets older, it‘s losing mass, and so its gravitational pull becomes weaker. As a result, the orbits of all the planets in our solar system are expanding, not unlike „the waistband of a couch potato in midlife,“ according to a new NASA press statement.

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Maryland and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has shown that the aging sun is behaving according to Albert Einstein‘s theory of general relativity.

11.08.2019 - 17:11 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

NASA Team Studies Middle-aged Sun by Tracking Motion of Mercury

(18.01.2018)

Like the waistband of a couch potato in midlife, the orbits of planets in our solar system are expanding. It happens because the Sun’s gravitational grip gradually weakens as our star ages and loses mass.

11.08.2019 - 17:08 [ Sparkonit.com ]

The Orbits Of All The Planets In Our Solar System Are Expanding As The Sun Gets Older, Study On Mercury’s Orbit Reveals

(25.01.2018)

“Mercury is the perfect test object for these experiments because it is so sensitive to the gravitational effect and activity of the Sun,” explained Antonio Genova, the lead author of the study and a MIT researcher working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Researchers were able to make these calculations from the data gathered by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft which made three ‘flybys’ of Mercury in 2008 and 2009 and orbited Mercury between March 2011 and April 2015 before it crashed into Mercury in 2015, Mail noted.

11.08.2019 - 16:58 [ ScientificAmerican.com ]

„Astronomical Unit,“ or Earth-Sun Distance, Gets an Overhaul

(14.09.2012)

Without fanfare, astronomers have redefined one of the most important distances in the Solar System. The astronomical unit (au) — the rough distance from the Earth to the Sun — has been transformed from a confusing calculation into a single number. The new standard, adopted in August by unanimous vote at the International Astronomical Union‘s meeting in Beijing, China, is now 149,597,870,700 meters — no more, no less.

11.08.2019 - 16:51 [ NewScientist.com ]

Why is the Earth moving away from the sun?

(01.06.2009)

It’s not much – just 15 cm per year – but since that’s 100 times greater than the measurement error, something must really be pushing Earth outward. But what?

One idea is that the Sun is losing enough mass, via fusion and the solar wind, to gradually be losing its gravitational grip (see Astronomical unit may need to be redefined). Other possible explanations include a change in the gravitational constant G, the effects of cosmic expansion, and even the influence of dark matter. None have proved satisfactory.

11.08.2019 - 15:25 [ Harvard.edu ]

Equatorial solar rotation and its relation to climatic changes

(29. September 1977)

During the years from 1965 to 1976, the magnitude of the solar rotation speed averaged annually showed a good inverse correlation with the annual relative sunspot numbers. It is suggested that this variation of the equatorial solar rotation speed may be responsible for the earth‘s present unusual climatic conditions. A similarity concerning the low sunspot activity for 1976 and the year 1643, just before the beginning of the Maunder Minimum (1645-1715) with its very severe climatic conditions, is pointed out. It appears, therefore, likely that the present unusual climatic conditions will remain as long as the solar activity continues to decrease.

11.08.2019 - 14:14 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

The Space Station Crosses a Spotless Sun

(15.07.2019)

Transiting the Sun is not very unusual for the ISS, which orbits the Earth about every 90 minutes, but getting one‘s timing and equipment just right for a great image is rare. Strangely, besides that fake spot, in this recent two-image composite, the Sun lacked any real sunspots. The featured picture combines two images — one capturing the space station transiting the Sun — and another taken consecutively capturing details of the Sun‘s surface. Sunspots have been rare on the Sun since the dawn of the current Solar Minimum, a period of low solar activity. For reasons not yet fully understood, the number of sunspots occurring during both the previous and current solar minima have been unusually low.

11.08.2019 - 14:03 [ Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) ]

Solar Cycle 25: May Be The Smallest In Over 300 Years

(26.01.2012)

Livingston and Penn provided the first hard estimate of Solar Cycle 25 amplitude based on a physical model. That estimate is 7, which would make it the smallest solar cycle for over 300 years.

This is figure 2 from their paper:

Livingston and Penn have been tracking the decline in sunspot magnetic field, predicting that sunspots will disappear when the umbral magnetic field strength falls below 1,500 gauss, as per this figure from their 2010 paper:

11.08.2019 - 13:58 [ NationalGeographic.com ]

Sun Headed Into Hibernation, Solar Studies Predict: Sunspots may disappear altogether in next cycle.

(14.06.2011)

This time, however, the rush to the poles is more of a crawl, which means we could be headed toward a very weak solar maximum in 2013—and it may delay or even prevent the start of the next solar cycle.

Taken together, the three lines of evidence strongly hint that Solar Cycle 25 may be a bust, the scientists said today during a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

11.08.2019 - 13:45 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Long Range Solar Forecast: Solar Cycle 25 peaking around 2022 could be one of the weakest in centuries.

(10.05.2006)

How do you observe a belt that plunges 200,000 km below the surface of the sun?

„We do it using sunspots,“ Hathaway explains. Sunspots are magnetic knots that bubble up from the base of the conveyor belt, eventually popping through the surface of the sun. Astronomers have long known that sunspots have a tendency to drift—from mid solar latitudes toward the sun‘s equator. According to current thinking, this drift is caused by the motion of the conveyor belt. „By measuring the drift of sunspot groups,“ says Hathaway, „we indirectly measure the speed of the belt.“

11.08.2019 - 13:22 [ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA.gov) ]

Space Weather Impacts On Climate

All weather on Earth, from the surface of the planet out into space, begins with the Sun. Space weather and terrestrial weather (the weather we feel at the surface) are influenced by the small changes the Sun undergoes during its solar cycle.

(…)

The duration of solar minimum may also have an impact on Earth‘s climate. During solar minimum there is a maximum in the amount of Cosmic rays, high energy particles whose source is outside our Solar system, reaching earth. There is a theory that cosmic rays can create nucleation sites in the atmosphere which seed cloud formation and create cloudier conditions. If this were true, then there would be a significant impact on climate, which would be modulated by the 11-year solar cycle.

11.08.2019 - 13:20 [ Donna Laframboise / nofrakkingconsensus.com ]

3 Things Scientists Need to Know About the IPCC

(01.09.2015)

So what’s going on here? How do we explain this outlandish, perverse process?

Well Rajendra Pachauri, who chaired the IPCC for 13 years, said that its “main customer” was something called the UNFCCC. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele is an IPCC official who’s working very hard to become its new chairman. This is slide #26 from a presentation he gave a few years ago: The IPCC, he says, is “eager to continue serving the UNFCCC process.” What does that mean?

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international treaty. If you’re the UN, and you’re trying to persuade nearly 200 different parties to act together, you need to start from somewhere. You need an established body of facts, a master document, a bible that everyone can use as a jumping-off point. IPCC reports, it turns out, serve that purpose.

In other words, the IPCC’s primary function is to enable a political instrument – a treaty between nation states. This is high octane politics.

11.08.2019 - 12:46 [ Quirin Schiermeier / Nature.com ]

Eat less meat: UN climate change report calls for change to human diet

(08.08.2019)

Efforts to curb greenhouse gas-emissions and the impacts of global warming will fall significantly short without drastic changes in global land use, agriculture and human diets, leading researchers warn in a high-level report commissioned by the United Nations.

The special report on climate and land by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes plant-based diets as a major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change ― and includes a policy recommendation to reduce meat consumption.

11.08.2019 - 12:44 [ Spiegel.de ]

Sonderbericht: Weltklimarat mahnt zur Kehrtwende beim Fleischkonsum

(08.08.2019)

Umgekehrt sind Land- und Forstwirtschaft und andere Formen der Landnutzung für 23 Prozent des menschengemachten Treibhausgas-Ausstoßes verantwortlich. So steht es im neuen Sonderbericht zu Klimawandel und Landsystemen, den der Weltklimarat IPCC am Donnerstag in Genf vorgelegt hat. Ein internationales Team aus 107 Wissenschaftlern hat dafür in dreijähriger Arbeit über 7000 Studien ausgewertet.

11.08.2019 - 10:25 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

What Does a Marsquake Look Like?

(22.07.2019)

Provided by the French space agency, Centre National d‘Études Spatiales (CNES), the seismometer detected its first marsquake on April 6, 2019. The InSight mission‘s Marsquake Service, which monitors the data from SEIS, is led by Swiss research university ETH Zurich.

11.08.2019 - 09:51 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

NASA‘s InSight Detects First Likely ‚Quake‘ on Mars

(23.04.2019)

The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander‘s Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander‘s 128th Martian day, or sol. This is the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from inside the planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind. Scientists still are examining the data to determine the exact cause of the signal.

11.08.2019 - 09:02 [ TaiwanNews.com.tw ]

6.0 earthquake strikes Taiwan‘s Yilan, whole country feels shock waves

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck northeastern Taiwan‘s Yilan County at 5:28 a.m. this morning (Aug. 8), according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of the temblor was 36.5 kilometers southeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 22.5 kilometers, based on CWB data.

11.08.2019 - 08:53 [ Xinhua ]

28 dead after Typhoon Lekima lands in east China

A total of 28 people died and 20 remain missing after super typhoon Lekima made landfall in east China‘s Zhejiang Province on Saturday, local authorities said on Sunday morning.

Most of the deaths occurred in Yongjia County, administered by Wenzhou City, where torrential downpours caused a landslide that blocked rivers.

11.08.2019 - 07:59 [ CNN ]

A hermit nation ruled by an egomaniac: Is Turkmenistan on the brink of collapse?

These are idyllic scenes from a one-minute video promoting the inaugural Caspian Economic Forum, which between August 11 and 12 will see heads of state from Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan descend on Awaza, a new resort town that has been touted by Turkmenistan‘s Foreign Ministry as the country‘s Las Vegas.

11.08.2019 - 07:43 [ Tass.com ]

Russian PM to visit Turkmenistan for participation in Caspian Economic Forum

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will pay a two-day visit to Turkmenia, where he will participate in the first Caspian Economic Forum and meet President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, press service of the Russian government reports.