Archiv: Sonnenaktivität / Sonnenwind / solar activity / solar wind


26.12.2022 - 06:31 [ Electroverse.co ]

Cold Records Shattered Across Canada, Driving Energy Usage To All-Time Highs; Extreme Freeze Sweeps U.S.; Blizzards Hit Hawaii; + Wintry Weather Traps 300 Oil Workers On North Sea Rig

(December 21, 2022)

As hinted at above, Mauna Loa began erupting on Nov 27 and stopped on Dec 13.

It was the first time it has actively erupted since 1984 (solar minimum of cycle 20) — and is a sign of the times…

Volcanic eruptions are one of the key climatic forcings driving Earth into its next bout of global cooling. They have been shown to increase in both number and explosivity during times of prolonged solar decline, which is thought to be due to an influx of cosmic rays (CRs) penetrating/exciting silica-rich magma. During solar mins the Sun’s magnetic field weakens and the outward pressure of the solar wind decreases, which allows more CRs to enter the inner solar system, including our planet’s atmosphere.

26.12.2022 - 06:11 [ Electroverse.co ]

Cold Wave Grips East Asia, Felling All-Time Snowfall Records Across Japan; Historic Snow In Moscow; + Christmas Freeze: Extreme Cold/Snow To Blast North America Over The Holidays

(December 19, 2022)

The COLD TIMES are returning, North America, in line with historically low solar activity.

14.11.2021 - 11:19 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Solar Activity Forecast for the Next Decade

(12.06.2019)

The results show that the next Solar Cycle will start in 2020 and reach a maximum in 2025.Cycle 25 is expected to be even weaker than the current solar cycle.

According to this forecast, upcoming solar activity will be the weakest in the last 200 years.

25.10.2021 - 19:22 [ arxiv.org ]

A Unified Model for the Fan Region and the North Polar Spur: A bundle of filaments in the Local Galaxy

We present a simple, unified model that can explain two of the brightest, large-scale, diffuse, polarizedradio features in the sky, the North Polar Spur (NPS) and the Fan Region, along with several otherprominent loops. We suggest that they are long, magnetized, and parallel filamentary structures thatsurround the Local arm and/or Local Bubble, in which the Sun is embedded. We show this modelis consistent with the large number of observational studies on these regions, and is able to resolvean apparent contradiction in the literature that suggests the high latitude portion of the NPS isnearby, while lower latitude portions are more distant. Understanding the contributions of this localemission is critical to developing a complete model of the Galactic magnetic field.

25.10.2021 - 19:18 [ Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto ]

Dunlap Astronomer discovers we may be surrounded by tunnel-like structure

(Oct.14, 2021)

Dr. Jennifer West, Research Associate at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, is making a scientific case that two bright structures that are seen on opposite sides of the sky – previously considered to be separate – are actually connected and are made of rope-like filaments. This connection forms what looks like a tunnel around our solar system.

“If we were to look up in the sky,” explains West, “we would see this tunnel-like structure in just about every direction we looked – that is, if we had eyes that could see radio light.”

25.10.2021 - 19:10 [ SciTechdaily.com ]

A Vast “Magnetic Tunnel” May Surround Earth and Our Entire Solar System

(today)

An expert in magnetism in galaxies and the interstellar medium, West looks forward to the more possible discoveries connected to this research.

“Magnetic fields don’t exist in isolation,” she says. “They all must to connect to each other. So, a next step is to better understand how this local magnetic field connects both to the larger-scale galactic magnetic field, and also to the smaller scale magnetic fields of our sun and Earth.”

25.10.2021 - 18:59 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Studying the Edge of the Sun’s Magnetic Bubble

(Oct 19, 2021)

The space radiation that comes at us from other stars is called galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). Active areas in the galaxy – like supernovae, black holes, and neutron stars – can strip the electrons from atoms and accelerate the nuclei to almost the speed of light, producing GCR.

On Earth, we have three layers of protection from space radiation. The first is the heliosphere, which helps block GCR from reaching the major planets in the solar system. Additionally, Earth’s magnetic field produces a shield called the magnetosphere, which keeps GCR out away from Earth and low-orbiting satellites like the International Space Station. Finally, the gases of Earth’s atmosphere absorb radiation.

25.10.2021 - 18:48 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

With NASA Data, Researchers Find Standing Waves at Edge of Earth’s Magnetic Bubble

(Oct.6, 2021)

The latest work considers the waves that form across the entire surface of the magnetosphere, using a combination of models and observations from NASA’s THEMIS mission, Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms.

The researchers found when solar wind pulses strike, the waves that form not only race back and forth between Earth’s magnetic poles and the front of the magnetosphere, but also travel against the solar wind. Archer likened these two kinds of movement to crossing a river: A boat can go from one riverbank to the other (traveling towards the poles) and upstream (against the solar wind). At the front of the magnetosphere, these waves appear to stand still.

25.10.2021 - 18:30 [ Electroverse.net ]

Solar Cycle 25 Progressing Similarly to 24, + Fairbanks sees Record-Breaking Snowfall

(October 6, 2021)

The official forecast by the NOAA/NASA Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel (made in 2019, and visualized by the red line above) called for a weak cycle 25, peaking in July 2025. And while things are currently tracking slightly ahead of schedule, NOAA don’t believe that the cycle will peak any higher than SC24. Instead, they simply see the peak arriving earlier, in late-2024 (rather than mid-2025). If this plays out it would of course mean an earlier start to Solar Cycle 26, too …

25.10.2021 - 18:04 [ Times of India ]

Study: Sun’s magnetic field is weakening

(Oct 7, 2019)

The research, according to the team, will help monitor and evaluate the influence of solar activities and their implications on the Earth’s climate. The astrophysicists’ team included experts from Ahmedabad’s Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Japan, and China.

25.10.2021 - 17:25 [ Forbes.com ]

Is Earth’s Magnetic Shield Eroding?

(29.3.2018)

The strength of Earth’s main magnetic field is currently about 29.5 microteslas, down 5 microteslas, or 14 percent from its strength three centuries ago.

We know this. There is no question of this.

04.10.2021 - 07:23 [ Astronomy.com ]

When north goes south: Is Earth’s magnetic field flipping?

(September 14, 2021)

Something odd is happening to Earth’s magnetic field. Over the last 200 years, it’s been slowly weakening and shifting its magnetic north pole (where a compass points, not to be confused with the geographic north pole) from the Canadian Arctic toward Siba. In recent decades, however, that slow shift south has quickened — reaching speeds upwards of 30 miles per year (48 kilometers per year).

04.10.2021 - 07:04 [ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan / SciTechdaily.com ]

Interplay Between Magnetic Force and Gravity in Massive Star Formation

(September 26, 2021)

The magnetic field is part of one of the four fundamental forces in nature. It plays a vital role in everyday life, from producing electricity in hydroelectric power plants to diagnosing diseases in medicine. Historically, the Earth’s magnetic field served as a compass for travelers before modern technology was available. Crucially for life, the Earth’s magnetic field acts as a shield protecting us from charged particles emanating from the Sun, which are accelerated by the Sun’s magnetic field. Removing this shield would very likely extinguish life on Earth.

04.10.2021 - 05:51 [ Forbes.com ]

Is Earth’s Magnetic Shield Eroding?

(29.3.2018)

The strength of Earth’s main magnetic field is currently about 29.5 microteslas, down 5 microteslas, or 14 percent from its strength three centuries ago.

We know this. There is no question of this.

15.07.2021 - 09:03 [ ScienceAlert.com ]

Earth’s Magnetic Field Could Be Changing Much Faster Than We Ever Realised

(8 JULY 2020)

Past palaeomagnetic studies have shown that the magnetic field could change direction at up to 1 degree a year, but the latest study suggests that movements of up to 10 degrees annually are possible.

15.07.2021 - 08:54 [ Forbes.com ]

Is Earth’s Magnetic Shield Eroding?

(29.3.2018)

The strength of Earth’s main magnetic field is currently about 29.5 microteslas, down 5 microteslas, or 14 percent from its strength three centuries ago.

We know this. There is no question of this.

15.07.2021 - 08:10 [ NationalGeographic.com ]

Surprise: Solar System „Force Field“ Shrinks Fast

(October 1, 2010)

It’s cold, dusty, and bereft of planets, but the outskirts of our solar system are anything but dull, according to increasing evidence from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) craft.

As charged particles flow out from the sun, they eventually bump up against interstellar medium—the relatively empty areas between stars. These interactions „inflate“ a protective bubble that shields Earth and the entire solar system from potentially harmful cosmic rays (solar system pictures).

15.07.2021 - 07:28 [ Carl Sagan, George Mullen / University of Texas at Austin ]

Earth and Mars: Evolution of Atmospheres and Surface Temperatures

(7. Juli 1972)

Indeed, detailed global climatic models (17) suggest that a relative increase in A of only 2 percent is enough to induce extensive glaciation on Earth, which implies that the present climate is extremely sensitive to albedo. This leaves changes in atmospheric composition as a possible explanation. Major variations in the CO2 abundance will have only minor greenhouse effects because the strongest bands are nearly saturated. A change in the present CO2 abundance by a factor of 2 will produce directly a 2° variation in surface temperature (18). The CO2 abundance is highly controlled by silicate-carbonate equilibria; by buffering with seawater, which contains almost 100 times the atmospheric CO2; and by the respiration and photosynthesis feedback loop (19).

21.02.2021 - 14:10 [ Carl Sagan, George Mullen / University of Texas at Austin ]

Earth and Mars: Evolution of Atmospheres and Surface Temperatures

(7. Juli 1972)

Indeed, detailed global climatic models (17) suggest that a relative increase in A of only 2 percent is enough to induce extensive glaciation on Earth, which implies that the present climate is extremely sensitive to albedo. This leaves changes in atmospheric composition as a possible explanation. Major variations in the CO2 abundance will have only minor greenhouse effects because the strongest bands are nearly saturated. A change in the present CO2 abundance by a factor of 2 will produce directly a 2° variation in surface temperature (18). The CO2 abundance is highly controlled by silicate-carbonate equilibria; by buffering with seawater, which contains almost 100 times the atmospheric CO2; and by the respiration and photosynthesis feedback loop (19).

21.02.2021 - 13:05 [ ScienceNews.org ]

50 years ago, scientists named Earth’s magnetic field as a suspect in extinctions

Excerpt from the November 21, 1970 issue of Science News

21.02.2021 - 12:40 [ Science Magazine ]

A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago

(19.02.2021)

We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.

21.02.2021 - 12:35 [ CNN ]

Reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles may have triggered Neanderthal extinction — and it could happen again

(19.02.2021)

Some 42,000 years ago, in an event known as the Laschamp Excursion, the poles did just that for around 800 years, before swapping back — but scientists were unsure exactly how or if it impacted the world.

Now, a team of researchers from Sydney’s University of New South Wales and the South Australian Museum say the flip, along with changing solar winds, could have triggered an array of dramatic climate shifts leading to environmental change and mass extinctions.

14.12.2020 - 17:11 [ mprnews.org ]

Solar storm fizzles, but ‚Solar Cycle 25‘ is just starting

„The panel believes that new Solar Cycle 25 will be a weak one, peaking in 2025 at levels similar to old Solar Cycle 24. If their prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 25 (like Solar Cycle 24 before it) will be one of the weakest since record-keeping began in 1755.“

15.09.2020 - 21:04 [ NASA ]

NASA, NOAA to Discuss Solar Cycle Prediction During Media Teleconference

Tuesday, 9/15/2020

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will discuss predictions for the upcoming solar cycle during a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 15. Tracking the solar cycle is a key part of better understanding the Sun and mitigating its impacts on human technology and infrastructure.

During the teleconference, experts on the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel will discuss recent updates in solar cycle progress, and the forecast for the upcoming cycle, Solar Cycle 25.

15.09.2020 - 18:01 [ Europäische Weltraumagentur / European Space Agency - ESA.int ]

Secrets for Solar Orbiter to solve

(04.09.2020)

The Sun’s magnetic field is responsible for all the solar activity we see; it drives the 11-year ebb and flow in the number of sunspots, and dominates the behaviour of the solar atmosphere. Furthermore, this magnetic field surrounds the entire solar system, creating a giant bubble known as the heliosphere that is filled with electrified gas known as plasma. Disturbances in this plasma can affect the planets, creating aurorae and interfering with the behaviour of technology. Yet the details of the magnetic field’s initial generation inside the Sun are not yet understood.

15.09.2020 - 16:17 [ 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.

15.09.2020 - 16:15 [ Hans Volland / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics / researchgate.net ]

Periodic variations of solar radiation – a possible source of solar activity-weather effects

(May 1979)

It is suggested that long-lasting co-rotating active longitudes on the Sun may be associated with small variations of the solar radiation reaching the Earth. The oscillations have a basic period of about 27 days and are not expected to have amplitudes greater than 0.1%. They result in a time-varying heat input to the Earth’s continents and, since the land exchanges heat with the overlying atmosphere, this oscillatory heating process generates large-scale planetary waves, mainly of the Rossby-Haurwitz type, in the atmosphere.

15.09.2020 - 15:42 [ Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics / ScienceDirect.com ]

The effect of the 11-year solar-cycle on the temperature in the upper-stratosphere and mesosphere: Part II numerical simulations and the role of planetary waves

(July 2005)

The numerical simulations presented here suggest a mechanism by which a small change induced by the solar forcing can generate a large atmospheric response.

15.09.2020 - 15:27 [ Potsdam Institute / Youtube ]

Rossby waves and extreme weather

(15.4.2016)

Learn how giant airstreams high in the sky get trapped sometimes – leading to devastating weather extremes on the ground. Copyright: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK and Climate Media Factory. This video was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

15.09.2020 - 14:25 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

NASA Researchers Track Slowly Splitting ‚Dent‘ in Earth’s Magnetic Field

(17.08.2020)

Earth’s magnetic field acts like a protective shield around the planet, repelling and trapping charged particles from the Sun. But over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean, an unusually weak spot in the field – called the South Atlantic Anomaly, or SAA – allows these particles to dip closer to the surface than normal. Particle radiation in this region can knock out onboard computers and interfere with the data collection of satellites that pass through it – a key reason why NASA scientists want to track and study the anomaly.

The South Atlantic Anomaly is also of interest to NASA’s Earth scientists who monitor the changes in magnetic field strength there, both for how such changes affect Earth’s atmosphere and as an indicator of what’s happening to Earth’s magnetic fields, deep inside the globe.

15.09.2020 - 14:19 [ Sky News ]

NASA investigates mysterious South Atlantic Anomaly

(18.08.2020)

Scientists at NASA are investigating the mysterious South Atlantic Anomaly, a region of weakness in the Earth’s magnetic field that is growing in size.

On average, the planet’s magnetic field has lost almost 10% of its strength over the last two centuries – but there is a large localised region of weakness stretching from Africa to South America.

15.09.2020 - 13:26 [ EOS.org ]

The Thermosphere Responds to a Weaker Than Normal Solar Cycle

(05.04.2019)

The cooling near solar minimum is natural and specific to the thermosphere. The cooling thermosphere does not affect the troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere closest to Earth’s surface where people live. The temperatures we experience on the ground do not get colder because of this solar cycle. NASA and other climate researchers continue to see a warming trend in the troposphere. These two effects are ongoing but unrelated.

Nitric oxide and carbon dioxide play important roles in cooling the thermosphere.

09.08.2020 - 08:07 [ journals.plos.org ]

The Earth’s magnetic field in Jerusalem during the Babylonian destruction: A unique reference for field behavior and an anchor for archaeomagnetic dating

Archaeomagnetism, the application of paleomagnetic methods to archaeological materials, is interdisciplinary not only in its methods but also in its impact. Well-dated archaeological materials are a critical data source for geomagnetic secular variation models [1–6], which are used to explore the dynamic structure of Earth’s core [7, 8], the rates of cosmogenic isotope production in the atmosphere [9–11] and the possible effect of geomagnetism on climate [11–13]. Precise documentation of the ancient field also helps contextualize geomagnetic observations from the modern era, such as the evolution of the South Atlantic Anomaly [14, 15] and the ongoing decline in the field’s intensity [16–18].

09.08.2020 - 08:05 [ Haaretz ]

Ruins of Ancient Jerusalem Help Unravel Enigmas of Earth’s Magnetic Field

Albert Einstein once called the behavior of the magnetic field one of the great mysteries of physics, but understanding and possibly predicting its changes has taken on a new urgency for scientists. The field has lost around 10 percent of its strength since measurements began less than 200 years ago, leading some researchers to question whether we are on the way to a flip in polarity, which would be preceded by a loss of our precious shield against cosmic radiation.

14.05.2020 - 20:55 [ Unilad.co.uk ]

The Sun Has Entered ‘Very Deep’ Solar Minimum

(today)

While these things are still ongoing debates, one thing that NASA did find to happen during solar minimum was an increased number of galactic cosmic rays that reach Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Galactic cosmic rays are high energy particles accelerated toward the solar system by distant supernova explosions and other violent events in the galaxy.

14.05.2020 - 20:45 [ inverse.com ]

The Sun’s midlife crisis could be making it stand out in the universe

(30.04.2020)

„The solar dynamo is one of the last unsolved mysteries of solar physics,“ Reinhold says. „We don’t really know why it’s 11 years long, or how it is generated.“

Other stars also run on cycles, but theirs varies from three years to eight years.

Although the researchers aren’t quite sure what makes the Sun so unique, they have a few possible explanations.

14.05.2020 - 20:37 [ Forbes ]

Is Our Sun In A 9,000 Year ‘Feeble Phase?’ Similar Stars Are Five Times More Fickle, Find Scientists

(30.04.2020)

The Sun takes 24.5 days to rotate once around their own axis; the 369 chosen all rotate once every 20-30 days.

“The speed at which a star rotates around its own axis is a crucial variable,” said Prof. Dr. Sami Solanki, director at MPS and co-author of the new paper. “The magnetic field is the driving force responsible for all fluctuations in activity.”

02.04.2020 - 18:16 [ Xinhuanet ]

NASA selects new mission to study giant solar particle storms

The new mission, called the Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), will help understand how the solar system works to protect astronauts traveling in space by providing better information on how the Sun’s radiation affects the space environment, said the release.

28.03.2020 - 15:18 [ CNN ]

Scientists found a secret in old Voyager 2 data. This is why we need to revisit Uranus and Neptune

„The way in which the sun’s solar wind interacts with Uranus is unlike any planet we’ve ever explored,“ DiBraccio said. „We are left with questions regarding to what degree the solar wind affects dynamics at Uranus such as transporting atmospheric particles, transferring energy and even changing the planet’s climate over time.“

09.02.2020 - 16:46 [ SWR ]

Europäische Sonde Solar Orbiter fliegt zur Sonne

Forscher wollen mit den so gewonnenen Daten klären, wie das Wetter im Weltall entsteht.

22.01.2020 - 22:45 [ Forbes.com ]

Is Earth’s Magnetic Shield Eroding?

(29.3.2018)

The strength of Earth’s main magnetic field is currently about 29.5 microteslas, down 5 microteslas, or 14 percent from its strength three centuries ago.

We know this. There is no question of this.

22.01.2020 - 21:54 [ Carl Sagan, George Mullen / utexas.edu ]

Earth and Mars: Evolution of Atmospheres and Surface Temperatures

(7. Juli 1972)

Indeed, detailed global climatic models (17) suggest that a relative increase in A of only 2 percent is enough to induce extensive glaciation on Earth, which implies that the present climate is extremely sensitive to albedo. This leaves changes in atmospheric composition as a possible explanation. Major variations in the CO2 abundance will have only minor greenhouse effects because the strongest bands are nearly saturated. A change in the present CO2 abundance by a factor of 2 will produce directly a 2° variation in surface temperature (18). The CO2 abundance is highly controlled by silicate-carbonate equilibria; by buffering with seawater, which contains almost 100 times the atmospheric CO2; and by the respiration and photosynthesis feedback loop (19).

22.01.2020 - 21:48 [ Wikipedia ]

Paradoxon der schwachen jungen Sonne

Unter dem Paradoxon der schwachen jungen Sonne versteht man den noch nicht vollständig geklärten Widerspruch zwischen der geringen Strahlungsleistung der jungen Sonne in der frühen Erdgeschichte und dem nicht entsprechend kälteren Klima zu dieser Zeit. Auf diese Diskrepanz wiesen erstmals die Astronomen Carl Sagan und George Mullen 1972 hin.[sm 1]

Sagan schlug eine vergleichsweise hohe Konzentration von Treibhausgasen als mögliche übergeordnete Erklärung vor, was sich aber für den fraglichen Zeitraum nicht bestätigt hat. Im Gegenteil, die im Archaikum stattgefundenen bedeutenden Änderungen der Atmosphärenzusammensetzung und der in Vergleich zur jüngeren Erdgeschichte nach einer globalen Vereisung vor 2,4 Milliarden Jahren lange Zeit relativ gleichmäßige Klimaverlauf (vgl. boring billion, dt. langweilige Milliarde[jko 1]) werfen eher zusätzliche Fragen auf. Über Jahrzehnte geführte kontroverse Diskussionen in Geologie, Astrophysik, Planetologie, Klimatologie und Atmosphärenwissenschaften machten das Paradoxon zu einer „der großen offenen Fragen der Paläoklimatologie“.

22.01.2020 - 21:46 [ Wikipedia ]

Faint young Sun paradox

The faint young Sun paradox or faint young Sun problem describes the apparent contradiction between observations of liquid water early in Earth’s history and the astrophysical expectation that the Sun’s output would be only 70 percent as intense during that epoch as it is during the modern epoch.[1] The issue was raised by astronomers Carl Sagan and George Mullen in 1972.[2] Proposed resolutions of this paradox have taken into account greenhouse effects, astrophysical influences, or a combination of the two.

An unresolved question is how a climate suitable for life was maintained on Earth over the long timescale despite the variable solar output and wide range of terrestrial conditions.

02.01.2020 - 17:18 [ ORF.at ]

„Magnetische Wand“ im interstellaren Raum

(04.11.2019)

„Voyager 2“ hat die Grenze der Heliosphäre in nur einem Tag passiert, was einen scharfen Übergang zum lokalen interstellaren Medium bedeutet. „Die alte, historische Vorstellung, dass der Sonnenwind sich einfach allmählich reduziert, je weiter man in den interstellaren Raum vordringt, trifft nicht zu“, erläuterte „Voyager“-Forscher Don Gurnett von der Universität von Iowa, Ko-Autor einer der Analysen. „Wir haben mit ‚Voyager 2‘ und vorher mit ‚Voyager 1 gezeigt, dass es dort draußen eine ausgeprägte Grenze gibt.“

02.01.2020 - 16:52 [ 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.

02.01.2020 - 16:44 [ Gizmodo.com ]

Pluto Is Emitting X-Rays, and That’s Really Weird

(16.09.2016)

The most likely explanation, according to Wolk, is that high energy particles from the solar wind are colliding with escaped bits of Pluto’s atmosphere—which is mostly nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen—stripping away electrons, and producing an x-ray flare. If true, that’s a very important insight, because it means Pluto’s atmosphere is boiling away into space. Slowly.

02.01.2020 - 16:39 [ HNGN.com ]

Sun’s Magnetic Field To ‚Flip‘ Causing ‚A Ripple Effect‘ Past Pluto (VIDEO)

(06.08.2013)

The polar switch also affects cosmic rays, which can endanger satellites and astronauts. Disturbances in the rays could even affect Earth’s climate.

The sheet acts as a „shield“ against these rays, and a wavy current sheet can be even more effective.

02.01.2020 - 15:16 [ Carl Sagan, George Mullen / utexas.edu ]

Earth and Mars: Evolution of Atmospheres and Surface Temperatures

(7. Juli 1972)

Indeed, detailed global climatic models (17) suggest that a relative increase in A of only 2 percent is enough to induce extensive glaciation on Earth, which implies that the present climate is extremely sensitive to albedo. This leaves changes in atmospheric composition as a possible explanation. Major variations in the CO2 abundance will have only minor greenhouse effects because the strongest bands are nearly saturated. A change in the present CO2 abundance by a factor of 2 will produce directly a 2° variation in surface temperature (18). The CO2 abundance is highly controlled by silicate-carbonate equilibria; by buffering with seawater, which contains almost 100 times the atmospheric CO2; and by the respiration and photosynthesis feedback loop (19).

02.01.2020 - 14:39 [ Wikipedia ]

Paradoxon der schwachen jungen Sonne

Unter dem Paradoxon der schwachen jungen Sonne versteht man den noch nicht vollständig geklärten Widerspruch zwischen der geringen Strahlungsleistung der jungen Sonne in der frühen Erdgeschichte und dem nicht entsprechend kälteren Klima zu dieser Zeit. Auf diese Diskrepanz wiesen erstmals die Astronomen Carl Sagan und George Mullen 1972 hin.[sm 1]

Sagan schlug eine vergleichsweise hohe Konzentration von Treibhausgasen als mögliche übergeordnete Erklärung vor, was sich aber für den fraglichen Zeitraum nicht bestätigt hat. Im Gegenteil, die im Archaikum stattgefundenen bedeutenden Änderungen der Atmosphärenzusammensetzung und der in Vergleich zur jüngeren Erdgeschichte nach einer globalen Vereisung vor 2,4 Milliarden Jahren lange Zeit relativ gleichmäßige Klimaverlauf (vgl. boring billion, dt. langweilige Milliarde[jko 1]) werfen eher zusätzliche Fragen auf. Über Jahrzehnte geführte kontroverse Diskussionen in Geologie, Astrophysik, Planetologie, Klimatologie und Atmosphärenwissenschaften machten das Paradoxon zu einer „der großen offenen Fragen der Paläoklimatologie“.

02.01.2020 - 14:36 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Solar Activity Forecast for Next Decade Favorable for Exploration

(12.06.2019)

The Sun’s activity rises and falls in an 11-year cycle. The forecast for the next solar cycle says it will be the weakest of the last 200 years. The maximum of this next cycle – measured in terms of sunspot number, a standard measure of solar activity level – could be 30 to 50% lower than the most recent one.

02.01.2020 - 10:32 [ CNN ]

Earth’s magnetic north pole is heading for Russia and scientists are puzzled

(18.12.2019)

A weakened magnetic field allows more cosmic radiation from space to strike our atmosphere, which creates more beryllium.

The actual reversal took less than 4,000 years — a drop in the bucket when compared to Earth’s timeline so far. But leading up to that reversal were 18,000 years of instability, including two temporary and partial reversals. This is twice as long as expected.

02.01.2020 - 10:23 [ American Geophysical Union / Youtube ]

Press Conference: Postcards from the edge of space: New images, new phenomena, and new insights

Tuesday, 10 December, 2:30 p.m. │ Presentations SA11A-01, SM51G-3219

In this briefing, scientists will present new images from Earth’s ionosphere, bringing color to processes that have widespread implications for the part of space closest to home. This collection of photos will span the first images ever captured by NASA’s ICON spacecraft — just launched in October 2019 — and the first science discoveries from NASA’s GOLD mission, along with observations of a never-before-studied type of aurora.

Participants:

Jennifer Briggs, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, United States;

Richard Eastes, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States;

Thomas Immel, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States.

02.01.2020 - 10:12 [ businessinsider.com ]

A mysterious crunch in Earth’s magnetic field created a new type of aurora borealis. A NASA intern discovered it.

(26.12.2019)

A NASA intern discovered a new type of aurora in 3-year-old video footage of the Arctic sky.

04.11.2019 - 19:38 [ ScienceNews.org ]

Voyager 2 reveals the dynamic, complex nature of the solar system’s edge

Despite encountering the heliopause at different times and locations — the two spacecraft are farther from each other than each are from the sun — some things looked similar. The magnetic field looked pretty much the same on the inside and the outside of the boundary: Somehow, the sun’s magnetic field lines up nearly perfectly with the local galactic field, contrary to expectations. “We could dismiss that as coincidence in one case, but we can’t do that twice,” study coauthor Leonard Burlaga, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in the news conference.

04.11.2019 - 19:30 [ Nature ]

Energetic charged particle measurements from Voyager 2 at the heliopause and beyond

Here, we report measurements of energetic (>28 keV) charged particles on V2 from the interface region between the heliosheath, dominated by heated solar wind plasma, and the VLISM, expected to contain cold non-solar plasma and the Galactic magnetic field. The number of particles of solar origin began a gradual decrease on 7 August 2018 (118.2 au), while those of Galactic origin (Galactic cosmic rays) increased ~20% in number over a period of a few weeks. An abrupt change occurred on 5 November when V2 was located at 119 au, with a decrease in the number of particles at energies of >28 keV and a corresponding increase in the number of Galactic cosmic rays of energy E > 213 MeV. T

04.11.2019 - 19:19 [ theGuardian.com ]

Nasa’s Voyager 2 sends back its first signal from interstellar space

The shape depends, in a complex way, on the relative strengths of the magnetic fields inside and outside of the heliosphere, and the latest measurements are suggestive of a more spherical form.

04.11.2019 - 18:51 [ ORF ]

„Magnetische Wand“ im interstellaren Raum

Nach Jahrzehnten haben sie nun die Grenze der Heliosphäre passiert und sind damit auf dem Weg zu den Sternen.

01.11.2019 - 06:33 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Sun’s protective ‚bubble‘ is shrinking

(18.10.2008)

The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.

01.11.2019 - 06:29 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Solar Activity Forecast for Next Decade Favorable for Exploration

(12.06.2019)

The Sun’s activity rises and falls in an 11-year cycle. The forecast for the next solar cycle says it will be the weakest of the last 200 years. The maximum of this next cycle – measured in terms of sunspot number, a standard measure of solar activity level – could be 30 to 50% lower than the most recent one. The results show that the next cycle will start in 2020 and reach its maximum in 2025.

01.11.2019 - 06:23 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Pressure Runs High at Edge of Solar System

(08.10.2019)

The scientists noted that the change in galactic cosmic rays wasn’t exactly identical at both spacecraft. At Voyager 2 inside the heliosheath, the number of cosmic rays decreased in all directions around the spacecraft. But at Voyager 1, outside the solar system, only the galactic cosmic rays that were traveling perpendicular to the magnetic field in the region decreased.

01.11.2019 - 06:17 [ Sciencealert.com ]

Voyager Mission Reveals Unexpected Pressure at The Edge of The Solar System

(10.10.2019)

There was one other surprise to come. The wave’s passage lined up with an apparent drop in the intensity of high speed particles called cosmic rays. The fact each of the probes experienced this same thing in two different ways gives astrophysicists yet another mystery to solve.

„Trying to understand why the change in the cosmic rays is different inside and outside of the heliosheath remains an open question,“ says Rankin.

01.11.2019 - 06:03 [ EOS.org ]

What Inflates the Solar Bubble? Voyagers Count What’s Missing

(17.10.2019)

We’re all living in a bubble.

In fact, the Sun and the entire solar system exist in a bubble that separates us from interstellar space. But what keeps that bubble inflated? A recent paper found that scientists can account for only 82% of the pressure that steadies the solar bubble, or heliosphere, against pressure from galactic headwinds. The source of 18% of the pressure is still unknown.

25.09.2019 - 19:31 [ Forbes.com ]

Is Earth’s Magnetic Shield Eroding?

(29.3.2018)

The strength of Earth’s main magnetic field is currently about 29.5 microteslas, down 5 microteslas, or 14 percent from its strength three centuries ago.

We know this. There is no question of this.

25.09.2019 - 19:23 [ Phys.org ]

Strong planetary magnetic fields like Earth’s may protect oceans from stellar storms

(14.03.2019)

„Magnetic fields appear to play an essential role in making planets habitable, so I wanted to find out how Earth’s magnetic field compared to those of other potentially habitable planets,“ she said.

Ms McIntyre said Earth’s strong magnetic field had probably played an important role in protecting the atmosphere from the solar wind and keeping the planet wet and habitable.

„Venus and Mars have negligible magnetic fields and do not support life, while Earth’s magnetic field is relatively strong and does,“ she said.

25.09.2019 - 19:19 [ NASA ‏/ Twitter ]

Unlike Earth, Mars does not have a magnetic field to shield its atmosphere from solar wind:

(05.11.2015)

25.09.2019 - 19:12 [ NationalGeographic.com ]

Rewind the Red Planet: See the Surprising Ways Mars Has Changed in 3 Billion Years

(21.11.2016)

Mars today is a chilly desert. But ancient landscapes reveal a times when water may have flowed freely. Scroll to see how the red planet has evolved

25.09.2019 - 18:56 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Why doesn’t Venus have a magnetic field ?

Current theories of the formation and evolution of the terrestrial planets do support an Earth scale magnetic dipole (magnetic field) on Venus for perhaps the first billion years or so after formation.

25.09.2019 - 18:47 [ European Planetary Science Congress / American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences ]

A view to the possible habitability of ancient Venus over three billion years

(20.09.2019)

The long-term evolutionary history of Venus’ climate largely remains a mystery.

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 - 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.

02.08.2019 - 02:09 [ CNN ]

Bill Nye’s experimental spacecraft that sails on sunlight declares mission success

The Planetary Society spent a decade working up to the LightSail 2 mission and scraping together the $7 million needed to get the project off the ground. All told, 50,000 supporters from 109 countries donated to the initiative, according to Planetary Society COO Jennifer Vaughn.

13.07.2019 - 16:40 [ EOS.org ]

The Thermosphere Responds to a Weaker Than Normal Solar Cycle

The cooling near solar minimum is natural and specific to the thermosphere. The cooling thermosphere does not affect the troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere closest to Earth’s surface where people live. The temperatures we experience on the ground do not get colder because of this solar cycle. NASA and other climate researchers continue to see a warming trend in the troposphere. These two effects are ongoing but unrelated.

Nitric oxide and carbon dioxide play important roles in cooling the thermosphere.

16.06.2019 - 11:31 [ Christina H Koch, current resident of the International @Space_Station / Twitter ]

Years ago at the South Pole, I looked up to the aurora for inspiration through the 6-month winter night. Now I know they’re just as awe inspiring from above. #nofilter

(10.06.2019)

16.06.2019 - 11:25 [ Robert Schwarz, scientist at the geographic South Pole, Planet Earth / Twitter ]

auroras over the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

(08.06.2019)

05.06.2019 - 20:00 [ Phys.org ]

Earth’s magnetic poles could start to flip. What happens then?

(07.12.2018)

‚The geomagnetic field has been decaying for the last 3,000 years,‘ said Dr. Nicolas Thouveny from the European Centre for Research and Teaching of Environmental Geosciences (CEREGE) in Aix-en-Provence, France. ‚If it continues to fall down at this rate, in less than one millennium we will be in a critical (period).‘

05.06.2019 - 19:41 [ Metro.co.uk ]

The sun has ‘reached solar minimum’ and its surface is ominously calm

But Nasa images have revealed that the face of our star is looking ominously calm right now, prompting claims it’s reached a stage of its cycle called the solar minimum.

During the minimum, there are significantly fewer sunspots and its magnetic field weakens, allowing cosmic rays from outside our solar system to rain down on Earth.

30.05.2019 - 16:24 [ scitecheuropa.eu ]

Solving a century-long mystery: the origin of galactic cosmic rays

(04.04.2019)

The word ‘astronomy’ means the direct observations of extra-terrestrial objects. This definition is relevant to photons, neutrinos, and gravitational waves, i.e. massless, neutral and stable particles. But for cosmic ray electrons, protons, and nuclei, the term ‘astronomy’ is used with a certain reservation. Because of the deflections of electrically charged particles in the chaotic interstellar and intergalactic magnetic fields, the information about their original directions pointing to the sites of their production is lost. Instead, on the Earth, we detect an (almost) isotropic flux of cosmic rays contributed by a huge number of galactic and extragalactic sources.

30.05.2019 - 16:11 [ arxiv.org ]

Hypothesis: Muon Radiation Dose and Marine Megafaunal Extinction at the end-Pliocene Supernova

(November 2018)

Considerable data and analysis support the detection of one or more supernovae (SNe) at a distance of about 50 pc, ∼2.6 million years ago. This is possibly related to the extinction event around that time and is a member of a series of explosions that formed the Local Bubble in the interstellar medium. We build on previous work, and propagate the muon flux from SN-initiated cosmic rays from the surface to the depths of the ocean. We find that the radiation dose from the muons will exceed the total present surface dose from all sources at depths up to 1 km and will persist for at least the lifetime of marine megafauna. It is reasonable to hypothesize that this increase in radiation load may have contributed to a newly documented marine megafaunal extinction at that time.

30.05.2019 - 15:55 [ New York Times ]

STUDY HINTS EXTINCTIONS STRIKE IN SET INTERVALS

(11. Dezember 1983)

At a conference on mass extinctions, held in August at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Dr. Sepkoski said the timing of these events suggested that “there is indeed a statistically significant periodicity in the observed distribution of events of mass or accelerated extinction over the last 250 million years.“ Search for Answers

He confessed this “stumped“ him and Dr. Raup, saying: “We are aware of no documented process with a cycling time approximately 26 million years. But with that long a cycle, we suspect that the forcing agent will not be terrestrial but rather solar or galactic.“

30.05.2019 - 15:49 [ Harvard.edu ]

Cosmic-ray volleys from the Galactic Center and their recent impact on the earth environment

Authors: Laviolette, P. A.
Journal: Earth, Moon, and Planets (ISSN 0167-9295), vol. 37, March 1987, p. 241-286.

25.05.2019 - 15:17 [ Phys.org ]

Scientists predict sun’s activity will be weak during next solar cycle

(08.04.2019)

„We expect Solar Cycle 25 will be very similar to Cycle 24: another fairly weak cycle, preceded by a long, deep minimum,“ said panel co-chair Lisa Upton, Ph.D., solar physicist with Space Systems Research Corp. „The expectation that Cycle 25 will be comparable in size to Cycle 24 means that the steady decline in solar cycle amplitude, seen from cycles 21-24, has come to an end and that there is no indication that we are currently approaching a Maunder-type minimum in solar activity.“

25.05.2019 - 15:09 [ NationalGeographic.com ]

Surprise: Solar System „Force Field“ Shrinks Fast

(01.10.2010)

„If we’ve learned anything from IBEX so far, it is that the models that we’re using for interaction of the solar wind with the galaxy were just dead wrong,“ David McComas, principal investigator for the IBEX program, said during a NASA press conference Thursday.

For starters, it’s been assumed that the heliosphere’s expansion and contraction follows the sun’s roughly 11-year activity cycle, during which the flow rate of charged particles, or solar wind, fluctuates.

25.05.2019 - 14:49 [ voyager.jpl.nasa.gov ]

NASA Voyager 2 Could Be Nearing Interstellar Space

(05.10.2018)

NASA’s Voyager 2 probe, currently on a journey toward interstellar space, has detected an increase in cosmic rays that originate outside our solar system.

25.05.2019 - 14:49 [ scitechdaily.com ]

NASA Voyager 2 Nearing Interstellar Space, Measures Increase in Cosmic Rays

(06.10.2018)

NASA’s Voyager 2 probe, currently on a journey toward interstellar space, has detected an increase in cosmic rays that originate outside our solar system.

25.05.2019 - 14:36 [ NASA Solar System ‏/ Twitter ]

The Space Between: interstellar space is often called the space between the stars, but more specifically, it’s the region between our Sun’s heliosphere and the astrospheres of other stars. Find out how that works

(27.03.2019)

25.05.2019 - 13:27 [ HNGN.com ]

Sun’s Magnetic Field To ‚Flip‘ Causing ‚A Ripple Effect‘ Past Pluto (VIDEO)

(06.08.2013)

The polar switch also affects cosmic rays, which can endanger satellites and astronauts. Disturbances in the rays could even affect Earth’s climate.

The sheet acts as a „shield“ against these rays, and a wavy current sheet can be even more effective.

25.05.2019 - 13:09 [ Gizmodo.com ]

Pluto Is Emitting X-Rays, and That’s Really Weird

(16.09.2016)

The most likely explanation, according to Wolk, is that high energy particles from the solar wind are colliding with escaped bits of Pluto’s atmosphere—which is mostly nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen—stripping away electrons, and producing an x-ray flare. If true, that’s a very important insight, because it means Pluto’s atmosphere is boiling away into space. Slowly.

(…)

Clearly, more research is needed to figure out exactly why Pluto’s atmosphere is leaky, and what’s responsible.

25.05.2019 - 12:48 [ Obspm.fr - Observatoire de Paris ]

Spring on Pluto: an analysis over 30 years

(10.05.2019)

Thus Pluto had its equinox in 1988, before moving to perihelion (at 30 au) in 1989. Since then, the dwarf planet has continually moved away from the Sun to reach 32 ua in 2016, which represents a loss of 25 % of his average insolation.

Naively, a sharp fall in atmospheric pressure could be expected. In fact, the gas-ice balance of nitrogen imposes that for each degree Kelvin lost at the surface, the pressure should decrease by a factor of two.

But the exact opposite occurs.

25.05.2019 - 12:15 [ Cornell University ]

Pluto’s lower atmosphere and pressure evolution from ground-based stellar occultations, 1988-2016

(06.03.2019)

Results: (i) Pressure has suffered a monotonic increase from 1988 to 2016, that is compared to a seasonal volatile transport model, from which tight constraints on a combination of albedo and emissivity of N2 ice are derived;

25.05.2019 - 12:12 [ CNN ]

Winter is coming to destroy Pluto’s atmosphere by 2030, study says

(29.04.2019)

If Pluto’s atmosphere collapses and freezes over, the dwarf planet may appear brighter in our sky because it will reflect more sunlight, Cole said.

25.05.2019 - 12:09 [ SkepticalScience.com ]

Pluto warms while the sun cools

(Last updated on 15 September 2010 by gpwayne)

Claims that solar system bodies are heating up due to increased solar activity are clearly wrong. The sun’s output has declined in recent decades. Only Pluto and Neptune are exhibiting increased brightness.

25.05.2019 - 11:25 [ German Aerospace Center, DLR / Youtube ]

Klimageschichte des Mars

(03.06.2013)

Prof. Dr. Ralf Jaumann, Leiter der Abteilung Planetengeologie des DLR-Instituts für Planetenforschung, spricht im Interview über die bewegte Klimageschichte des Mars. Er ist Experimentmanager und Co-Investigator der hochauflösenden Stereokamera (HRSC) auf der ESA-Raumsonde Mars Express.

25.05.2019 - 11:07 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

A Gloomy Mars Warms Up

(14.05.2007)

They discovered that a wind-whipped, dusty surface has a measurable effect on the amount of sunlight that is reflected by the planet. The results of this research show that an increase in darkened surface areas may account for a one degree Fahrenheit rise in the surface air temperature of the planet.

25.05.2019 - 09:25 [ Nature.com ]

Less absorbed solar energy and more internal heat for Jupiter

(13.09.2018)

The radiant energy budget and internal heat are fundamental properties of giant planets, but precise determination of these properties remains a challenge.

(…)

Furthermore, the significant wavelength dependency of Jupiter’s albedo implies that the radiant energy budgets and internal heat of the other giant planets in our solar system should be re-examined.

(…)

Furthermore, the transfer and distribution of radiant energy within the atmospheric systems modify the thermal structure and hence generate the mechanical energy to drive atmospheric circulation, weather, and climate. The radiant energy budget and the related internal heat of the giant planets also bear upon their evolutionary history.

29.04.2019 - 13:24 [ Scinexx ]

Erdmagnetfeld beeinflusst Klima: Meerwasser nimmt bei schwächerem Magnetfeld weniger CO2 auf

(7. Oktober 2008)

Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass selbst kleine Veränderungen des Magnetfelds die Löslichkeit von Gasen im Wasser verändern. „Wenn das Magnetfeld schwächer war, löste sich 15 Prozent weniger Luft im Wasser als bei einem stärkeren Magnetfeld“, erläutert Winklhofer. „Für Kohlendioxid war der beobachtete Effekt sogar doppelt so stark.“

29.04.2019 - 13:21 [ Geophysical Research Letters 35(16) / researchgate.net ]

Magnetic effect on CO 2 solubility in seawater: A possible link between geomagnetic field variations and climate

(August 2008)

Correlations between geomagnetic-field and climate parameters have been suggested repeatedly, but possible links are controversially discussed. Here we test if weak (Earth-strength) magnetic fields can affect climatically relevant properties of seawater. We found the solubility of air in seawater to be by 15% lower under reduced magneticfield (20 mT) compared to normal field conditions (50 mT). The magnetic-field effect on CO2 solubility is twice as large, from which we surmise that geomagnetic field variations modulate the carbon exchange between atmosphere and ocean. A 1% reduction in magnetic dipole moment may release up to ten times more CO2 from the surface ocean than is emitted by subaerial volcanism.

29.04.2019 - 13:15 [ Stanford University ]

ON THE WEAKENING OF THE POLAR MAGNETIC FIELDS DURING SOLAR CYCLE 23

(20. Dezember 2009)

The Sun’s polar fields are currently ∼40% weaker than they were during the previous three sunspot minima. This weakening has been accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength, by a ∼20% shrinkage in the polar coronal-hole areas, and by a reduction in the solar-wind mass flux over the poles. It has also been reflected in coronal streamer structure and the heliospheric current sheet, which only showed the expected flattening into the equatorial plane after sunspot numbers fell to unusually low values in mid-2008. From latitude–time plots of the photospheric field, it has long been apparent that the polar fields are formed through the transport of trailing-polarity flux from the sunspot latitudes to the poles.

29.04.2019 - 12:48 [ Nature.com ]

Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why

(9. Januar 2019)

The magnetic pole is moving so quickly that it has forced the world’s geomagnetism experts into a rare move.

On 15 January, they are set to update the World Magnetic Model, which describes the planet’s magnetic field and underlies all modern navigation, from the systems that steer ships at sea to Google Maps on smartphones.

29.04.2019 - 12:35 [ British Geological Survey ]

World Magnetic Model (WMM)

The World Magnetic Model (WMM) is a standard model of the core and large-scale crustal magnetic field. It is used extensively for navigation and in attitude and heading referencing systems by the UK Ministry of Defence, the US Department of Defense, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the International Hydrographic Organization.

(…)

The WMM is a model of the core and large-scale crustal fields only. However the satellite data contain unwanted signals such as small-scale crustal, external ionospheric and magnetospheric and their induced counterparts. These fields would have added noise to the WMM2015 SV model and could have biased its estimates.

BGS employed two techniques to avoid the contamination caused by external magnetic fields. Firstly we rejected those data most contaminated by these sources, as identified by a combination of local time, geomagnetic indices and solar wind data. ……..

29.04.2019 - 12:19 [ Met Office Space ‏/ Twitter ]

Today’s Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC) Solar Synoptic Map. No sunspots are currently visible and this continues the very low solar activity.

(28. April 2019)

29.04.2019 - 12:14 [ SDO | Solar Dynamics Observatory / Youtube ]

Sunspots and Magnetic Fields

The physical correlation of magnetic intensity and sunspots is clearly revealed when we fade back and forth between a filtered (i.e., white light) image of the Sun with a magnetic image (magnetogram) taken at the same time (Dec. 18, 2014). Two large sunspot groups with strong magnetic intensity stand out in both the magnetic and white light images.

29.04.2019 - 10:51 [ Phys.org ]

Scientists predict sun’s activity will be weak during next solar cycle

(8. April 2019)

„We expect Solar Cycle 25 will be very similar to Cycle 24: another fairly weak cycle, preceded by a long, deep minimum,“ said panel co-chair Lisa Upton, Ph.D., solar physicist with Space Systems Research Corp. „The expectation that Cycle 25 will be comparable in size to Cycle 24 means that the steady decline in solar cycle amplitude, seen from cycles 21-24, has come to an end and that there is no indication that we are currently approaching a Maunder-type minimum in solar activity.“

29.04.2019 - 10:50 [ Phys.org ]

Rapid destruction of Earth-like atmospheres by young stars

(24.04.2019)

The high energy radiation is important because it is absorbed high in the atmosphere of a planet, causing the gas to be heated. For the Earth, the gas is heated to temperatures of more than 1000 degrees Celsius in the upper region known as the thermosphere. This is the region in which spacecraft such as satellites and the International Space Station fly. When orbiting young stars with high activity levels, the thermospheres of planets are heated to much higher temperatures which, in extreme cases, can cause the gas to flow away from the planet.

14.04.2019 - 19:50 [ Washington Post ]

Scientists predict a new solar cycle is about to begin and that it might be stronger than the last one

(11. April 2019)

The decline in sunspot activity through cycle 24 was worrisome to some space weather scientists in that it suggested a return to a lengthy “solar drought,” reminiscent of the Maunder Minimum period of 1645-1715. Records show the sun was essentially spotless for this lengthy period, coinciding with the “Little Ice Age” in Europe and tickling the interest of scientists to wonder whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between solar behavior and Earth’s climate.

14.04.2019 - 19:47 [ Phys.org ]

Scientists predict sun’s activity will be weak during next solar cycle

(8. April 2019)

„We expect Solar Cycle 25 will be very similar to Cycle 24: another fairly weak cycle, preceded by a long, deep minimum,“ said panel co-chair Lisa Upton, Ph.D., solar physicist with Space Systems Research Corp. „The expectation that Cycle 25 will be comparable in size to Cycle 24 means that the steady decline in solar cycle amplitude, seen from cycles 21-24, has come to an end and that there is no indication that we are currently approaching a Maunder-type minimum in solar activity.“

14.04.2019 - 19:46 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Solar Wind Loses Power, Hits 50-year Low

(23. September 2008)

In a briefing today at NASA headquarters, solar physicists announced that the solar wind is losing power.

„The average pressure of the solar wind has dropped more than 20% since the mid-1990s,“ says Dave McComas of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. „This is the weakest it’s been since we began monitoring solar wind almost 50 years ago.“

14.04.2019 - 18:54 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Sun’s protective ‚bubble‘ is shrinking

(18.10.2008)

The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.

14.04.2019 - 18:33 [ onlinelibrary.wiley.com ]

Die Heliosphäre – Schutzschild für die Erde

(Physikalische Blätter 57, 2001)

Die als Heliosphäre weit in den interplanetaren Raum reichende Sonnenatmosphäre schützt die Erde und die anderen Planeten vor der energiereichen kosmischen Strahlung. Dieser Schutzschild unterliegt jedoch langfristigen Veränderungen mit gravierenden Auswirkungen auf die Erdumgebung. Ursache sind die mit dem Sonnenzyklus verbundenen Änderungen des Magnetfeldes der Sonne, die Variabilität des Sonnenwindes sowie Änderungen in der interstellaren Umgebung der Sonne. Einige dieser Vorgänge werden hier zusammen mit den Grundbegriffen der Physik der Heliosphäre beschrieben.

14.04.2019 - 18:14 [ Wikipedia ]

Interplanetares Magnetfeld: Wechselwirkung mit anderen Magnetfeldern

Der Sonnenwind wechselwirkt mit den Magnetfeldern der Planeten wie der Erde und dem Jupiter und begrenzt deren Magnetosphären durch eine Schockfront. Für die äußerste Zone des Sonnensystems gibt es Hinweise auf eine ähnliche Begrenzung der Heliosphäre mit vergleichbarem Aufbau von Plasmaschicht (Heliohülle) und Heliopause an der Grenze zum interstellaren Raum.

14.04.2019 - 18:11 [ derStandard.at ]

Die Sonne lässt das Erdmagnetfeld wie eine Trommel schwingen

(18.2.2019)

Seit rund zwölf Jahren sind Satelliten der Nasa im All unterwegs, um im Rahmen der Mission Themis die Wechselwirkungen zwischen dem Sonnenwind und dem Erdmagnetfeld in räumlicher und zeitlicher Auflösung zu untersuchen.

14.04.2019 - 18:06 [ Heise.de ]

„Da passiert etwas Seltsames“: Position des magnetischen Nordpols aktualisiert

(5.2.2019)

Zu den Hintergründen der Positionsverschiebungen des magnetischen Nordpols gibt es derzeit nur Theorien.

14.04.2019 - 17:52 [ Europäische Weltraumagentur ]

SWARM: IM FORMATIONSFLUG DURCH DAS ERDMAGNETFELD (SPECIAL)

(20.11.2013)

Klar ist: Zwischen den äußeren Einflüssen und den irdischen Magnetfeldänderungen verbergen sich vielschichtige, schwer fassbare Prozesse. In jüngster Zeit setzte sich die Erkenntnis durch, dass alles noch wesentlich komplizierter ist, als man es je vermutet hätte. Weil alles mit allem zusammenhängt.

29.03.2019 - 10:02 [ Forbes ]

Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Has Officially Moved

Earth’s magnetic North Pole has drifted so fast that authorities have had to officially redefine the location of the magnetic North Pole. The extreme wandering of the North Pole caused increasing concerns over navigation, especially in high latitudes.

29.03.2019 - 09:05 [ CBC.ca ]

The sun is quieter than normal, but don’t panic

(11.3.2019)

Over the past three decades, the sun has been consistently dropping in activity. Maximum has been quieter than is typical; minimum has been particularly quiet. And this has caused some to make the false assumption that, as a result, Earth is going to cool.

29.03.2019 - 08:41 [ Nature.com ]

Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why

(9.1.2019)

Something strange is going on at the top of the world. Earth’s north magnetic pole has been skittering away from Canada and towards Siberia, driven by liquid iron sloshing within the planet’s core. The magnetic pole is moving so quickly that it has forced the world’s geomagnetism experts into a rare move.

29.03.2019 - 08:25 [ NationalGeographic.com ]

Sun Is Moving Slower Than Thought

(12.5.2012)

„Having learned for nearly three decades about it, I was literally shocked when we found it was missing.“

(…)

Still, considering the rays‘ expected effects, Redfield said, „it seems obvious to me that there will be scenarios or times when the cosmic-ray flux on a planet is important and [is] having a major influence on the evolution of the planetary atmosphere or even on biological processes on its surface.“

29.03.2019 - 08:23 [ NationalGeographic.com ]

Surprise: Solar System „Force Field“ Shrinks Fast

(1.10.2010)

„If we’ve learned anything from IBEX so far, it is that the models that we’re using for interaction of the solar wind with the galaxy were just dead wrong,“ David McComas, principal investigator for the IBEX program, said during a NASA press conference Thursday.

For starters, it’s been assumed that the heliosphere’s expansion and contraction follows the sun’s roughly 11-year activity cycle, during which the flow rate of charged particles, or solar wind, fluctuates.

08.12.2018 - 15:32 [ Huffington Post ]

Waiting For The Next Sunspot Cycle: 2019-2030

(6.12.2017) By Cycle 25 or 26, magnetic fields may be too weak to punch through the solar surface and form recognizable sunspots at all,

08.12.2018 - 15:25 [ Resonance.is ]

Is our solar system heating up?

With the decrease of solar activity, the magnetic field of oursun is losing power too. This heliosphere shields us forming a gigantic bubble which surrounds and protects our solar system from harmful galactic cosmic rays, these high-energy particles that zip through the universe. Thanks to Voyagers 1 leaving the Solar system, we now have a good vision of it and of its shielding effect. It appears to be an indispensable protection for our fast moving throughout the Universe. But, with a weaker heliosphere Earth will begin to endure more and more the cosmic rays.

08.12.2018 - 15:19 [ ScienceMag.com ]

Decades-Long Changes of the Interstellar Wind Through Our Solar System

(6.9.2013) The flow of interstellar gas and dust through the solar system was thought to be unvarying, but Frisch et al. (p. 1080) show that there has been a significant variation of the direction of the flow of interstellar helium through the solar system over the past 40 years.

08.12.2018 - 15:14 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Sun’s protective ‚bubble‘ is shrinking

(18.10.2008) The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.

08.12.2018 - 15:12 [ Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik e.V. an der Universität Rostock ]

Influence of the 11-year solar cycle on planetary wave structures in the stratosphere and mesosphere

(2011) The stationary wave structures in the spatial distribution of stratospheric ozone have a significant influence on the local radiative heating and therefore on planetary wave propagation, temperature, circulation and trace gas distributions in the stratosphere and mesosphere. We show that these effects of O3* , which is the zonally asymmetric component of ozone, are modified by the 11-year cycle in solar irradiation,

08.12.2018 - 14:54 [ Washington Post ]

Sun activity is in free fall, but you shouldn’t expect a new little ice age

(11.11.2013) “Solar activity is declining very fast at the moment,” Mike Lockwood, a professor of space environmental physics at Britain’s Reading University, said, “we estimate faster than at any time in the last 9,300 years.”

08.12.2018 - 14:50 [ BBC ]

Has the Sun gone to sleep?

(17.Januar 2014) Scientists are saying that the Sun is in a phase of „solar lull“ – meaning that it has fallen asleep – and it is baffling them.

08.12.2018 - 14:44 [ notrickszone.com ]

Solar Cycle Continues To Be The Weakest In 2 Centuries

(23.8.2017) Our source of energy and life at the center of our solar system was significantly below normal with respect to activity last month.

The measured sunspot number (SSN) was 18.3. That was only 36% of what is typical (51) this far into the solar cycle – calculated from the previous 23 solar cycles recorded.

08.12.2018 - 14:31 [ Space.com ]

No Global Cooling Miracle: Sun’s Activity Lull Will Stop Soon, Study Suggests

We can’t count on waning solar activity to help bail us out of our climate-change problem in the near future, a new study suggests.

08.12.2018 - 14:24 [ Firstpost.com ]

Mini ice-age, planet cooling from natural dip in Sun’s heat ruled out: Study

A team of scientists from the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences and Department of Physical Sciences at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata led by Prantika Bhowmik and Professor Dibyendu Nandi have dismissed the speculation ofessor Dibyendu Nandi have dismissed the speculation and claim ……………………..

20.11.2018 - 15:45 [ NASA Goddard / Youtube ]

NASA | Thermonuclear Art – The Sun In Ultra-HD (4K)

Presented in ultra-high definition, the video presents the dance of the ultra-hot material on our life-giving star in extraordinary detail, offering an intimate view of the grand forces of the solar system.

20.11.2018 - 15:35 [ NASASolarSystem / Youtube ]

Voyager Satellites Find Magnetic Bubbles at Edge of Solar System

(9.11.2011) This ribbon shows the emission of energetic particles and seems to indicate some interaction with interstellar space.

20.11.2018 - 15:33 [ NASA Goddard / Youtube ]

Understanding the Magnetic Sun

(29.1.2016) Grasping what drives that magnetic system is crucial for understanding the nature of space throughout the solar system: The sun’s invisible magnetic field is responsible for everything from the solar explosions that cause space weather on Earth – such as auroras – to the interplanetary magnetic field and radiation through which our spacecraft journeying around the solar system must travel.

20.11.2018 - 15:05 [ Forbes.com ]

Is Earth’s Magnetic Shield Eroding?

(29.3.2018) The strength of Earth’s main magnetic field is currently about 29.5 microteslas, down 5 microteslas, or 14 percent from its strength three centuries ago.

We know this. There is no question of this.

20.11.2018 - 14:47 [ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ]

The Case of Earth’s Incredible Shrinking Field

(1.11.2006) Earth’s magnetic field has been monitored carefully since the 1830s, when the German polymath Karl Friedrich Gauss invented a way to measure its intensity. Since then, the field has decayed at the ­startling rate of about 5 percent per century

20.11.2018 - 13:16 [ CBNcom ]

Something’s Happening to the Sun Right Now, Here’s What It Means for Earth

(13.11.2018) If the trend continues, the NASA scientist says we could see record cold in a matter of months.

„The thermosphere always cools off during Solar Minimum. It’s one of the most important ways the solar cycle affects our planet,“ Mlynczak said.

20.11.2018 - 13:15 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Solar Wind Loses Power, Hits 50-year Low

Sept. 23, 2008: In a briefing today at NASA headquarters, solar physicists announced that the solar wind is losing power.

„The average pressure of the solar wind has dropped more than 20% since the mid-1990s,“ says Dave McComas of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. „This is the weakest it’s been since we began monitoring solar wind almost 50 years ago.“

20.11.2018 - 13:13 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Sun’s protective ‚bubble‘ is shrinking

(18.10.2008) The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.

20.11.2018 - 13:08 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Excitement Increases as Voyager 2 sees a decrease in Heliospheric Particles

(14.11.2018) In the following graph of the Low Energy Telescope data, right around the beginning of November, you’ll notice a pretty dramatic change: All of a sudden, the Voyager 2 counting rate of low-energy particles dropped, although it hasn’t yet dropped to nearly zero as it did when Voyager 1 entered interstellar space. Scientists will keep their eye on these graphs …

20.11.2018 - 13:05 [ NASA Sun & Space ‏/ Twitter ]

Excitement goes up ? as @NASAVoyager 2’s count of heliospheric particles goes down These low-energy particles originate within the Sun’s bubble of magnetic influence — the heliosphere — and their count should drop to near-zero in interstellar space:

(17.11.2018)

20.11.2018 - 12:55 [ Forbes.com ]

What Caused That Spooky And Impossible Fire In The Atlantic Ocean?

(31.10.2018) There was no fire; it was a radiation phantom, playing tricks with the satellite’s highly sensitive instruments.

As Voiland’s piece notes, algorithms are designed to filter out these curiosities, but every now and then, a few can slip through, resulting in some rather fascinating ghosts in the machine.

20.11.2018 - 12:45 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

A Fire in the Middle of the Atlantic Ocean?

(14.7.2017) “It is almost certainly SAMA,” Oliva said, using an acronym for the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly. This weakness in Earth’s magnetic field, centered over South America and the South Atlantic, allows one of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts—zones of energetic particles trapped by the magnetic field—to dip closer to the atmosphere. As a result, much of South America and part of the South Atlantic Ocean get an extra dose of radiation.

20.11.2018 - 12:40 [ Scienceblogs.com ]

Why the Earth wears an Antimatter Belt!

(9.8.2011) The Earth’s magnetic field — the same field that causes your compass needle to point North — extends far out into space, and shields us from the high-energy, charged particles that come from not only the Sun, but also from powerful galactic and extra-galactic sources!

The Solar Wind, however, would by far be the most deadly to us, were it not for this magnetic „shield“ that the Earth produces.

20.11.2018 - 12:23 [ qrz.com ]

A new solar index number is being published – Thermosphere Climate Index

(1.10.2018) Hi Everybody;

As the sun plummets into the solar minimum a new index is derived to measure the total energy budget of the planet.

20.11.2018 - 12:20 [ spaceweatherarchive.com ]

The Chill of Solar Minimum

(27.9.2018) As 2018 comes to an end, the Thermosphere Climate Index is on the verge of setting a Space Age record for Cold. “We’re not there quite yet,” says Mlynczak, “but it could happen in a matter of months.”

20.11.2018 - 12:18 [ Phys.org ]

Solar activity is declining—what to expect?

(17.8.2015) The solar cycle is the periodic change in the Sun’s activity and appearance like changes in the number of sunspots. It has an average duration of about 11 years. The current solar cycle began on in January 2008, with minimal activity until early 2010. The sun is now on track to have the lowest recorded sunspot activity since accurate records began in 1750.

08.10.2018 - 22:52 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Sun’s protective ‚bubble‘ is shrinking

(18.10.2008) The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.

01.10.2018 - 20:38 [ Resonance.is ]

Is our solar system heating up?

With the decrease of solar activity, the magnetic field of oursun is losing power too. This heliosphere shields us forming a gigantic bubble which surrounds and protects our solar system from harmful galactic cosmic rays, these high-energy particles that zip through the universe. Thanks to Voyagers 1 leaving the Solar system, we now have a good vision of it and of its shielding effect. It appears to be an indispensable protection for our fast moving throughout the Universe. But, with a weaker heliosphere Earth will begin to endure more and more the cosmic rays.

01.10.2018 - 20:31 [ ScienceMag.com ]

Decades-Long Changes of the Interstellar Wind Through Our Solar System

(6.9.2013) The flow of interstellar gas and dust through the solar system was thought to be unvarying, but Frisch et al. (p. 1080) show that there has been a significant variation of the direction of the flow of interstellar helium through the solar system over the past 40 years.

01.10.2018 - 20:27 [ Astrophysical Journal Letters ]

Ultraviolet Flux Decrease Under a Grand Minimum from IUE Short-wavelength Observation of Solar Analogs

(27.12.2017) From this linear regression we estimate a range in UV flux of 9.3% over solar cycle 22 and a reduction of 6.9% below solar cycle minimum under a grand minimum.

01.10.2018 - 20:21 [ Huffington Post ]

Waiting For The Next Sunspot Cycle: 2019-2030

(6.12.2017) By Cycle 25 or 26, magnetic fields may be too weak to punch through the solar surface and form recognizable sunspots at all,

01.10.2018 - 20:14 [ Washington Post ]

The sun is spotless and serene: What does it mean?

(30.7.2018) They believe that Cycle 25 will be smaller than the current cycle by approximately 25 percent.

01.10.2018 - 20:11 [ Space.com ]

Sun’s Current Solar Activity Cycle Is Weakest in a Century

(11.12.2013) Scientists also think they know why relatively few super-fast solar energetic particles, or SEPS, have been measured in Earth’s neighborhood during the current cycle, which began in early 2008. It has to do with a weakened interplanetary magnetic field, another characteristic of Solar Cycle 24, they say.

01.10.2018 - 19:20 [ NASA Goddard / Youtube ]

Understanding the Magnetic Sun

(29.1.2016) Grasping what drives that magnetic system is crucial for understanding the nature of space throughout the solar system: The sun’s invisible magnetic field is responsible for everything from the solar explosions that cause space weather on Earth – such as auroras – to the interplanetary magnetic field and radiation through which our spacecraft journeying around the solar system must travel.

01.10.2018 - 19:05 [ Nature.com ]

Declining solar activity linked to recent warming

(6.10.2010) An analysis of satellite data challenges the intuitive idea that decreasing solar activity cools Earth, and vice versa. In fact, solar forcing of Earth’s surface climate seems to work the opposite way around — at least during the current Sun cycle. (…)

Contrary to expectations, the net amount of solar energy reaching Earth’s troposphere — the lowest part of the atmosphere — seems to have been larger in 2007 than in 2004, despite the decline in solar activity over that period.

The spectral changes seem to have altered the distribution of ozone molecules above the troposphere.

01.10.2018 - 18:52 [ Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik e.V. an der Universität Rostock ]

Influence of the 11-year solar cycle on planetary wave structures in the stratosphere and mesosphere

(2011) The stationary wave structures in the spatial distribution of stratospheric ozone have a significant influence on the local radiative heating and therefore on planetary wave propagation, temperature, circulation and trace gas distributions in the stratosphere and mesosphere. We show that these effects of O3* , which is the zonally asymmetric component of ozone, are modified by the 11-year cycle in solar irradiation,

01.10.2018 - 18:50 [ Potsdam Institute / Youtube ]

Rossby waves and extreme weather

(15.4.2016) Learn how giant airstreams high in the sky get trapped sometimes – leading to devastating weather extremes on the ground. Copyright: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK and Climate Media Factory. This video was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). PIK research on the subject: – Evidence for wave resonance as a key mechanism for generating high-amplitude quasi-stationary waves in boreal Summer

29.09.2018 - 15:44 [ Scott E. Forbush / National Center for Biotechnology Information / National Institutes of Health ]

SOLAR INFLUENCES ON COSMIC RAYS

(15. Januar 1957) Probably all the established variations with time of cosmic-ray intensity are directly or indirectly due to solar influences.

29.09.2018 - 15:40 [ PhysicsWorld.com ]

The riddle of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

(31.7.2018) Far, far away, something – somewhere – is creating particles with crazy amounts of energy. Whatever they are or wherever they’re from, these particles can be anything between 1018 eV and 1020 eV. Given that the top particle energy at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is about 1013 eV, some of these particles are a million times more energetic than anything we can fashion at the most powerful particle accelerator on the planet. Quite simply, they’re the most energetic particles ever seen in nature.

Known as ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), these particles were discovered in 1962.

29.09.2018 - 15:40 [ Vice.com ]

Mysterious Cosmic Rays Shooting from the Ground in Antarctica Could Break Physics

(today) Physicists have long known that high energy particles can penetrate deep into Earth, but none of the particles predicted by the Standard Model—the most accurate model of physics that has ever existed—should be able to pass all the way through the planet.

29.09.2018 - 15:36 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Sun’s protective ‚bubble‘ is shrinking

(18.10.2008) The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.

29.09.2018 - 15:33 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Cosmic Rays Hit Space Age High

(29.9.2009) Researchers have long known that cosmic rays go up when solar activity goes down.

29.09.2018 - 15:22 [ BBC ]

Is our Sun falling silent?

(18.Januar 2014) „I’ve been a solar physicist for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this,“ says Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.

19.08.2018 - 20:57 [ Scott E. Forbush / National Center for Biotechnology Information / National Institutes of Health ]

SOLAR INFLUENCES ON COSMIC RAYS

(15. Januar 1957) Probably all the established variations with time of cosmic-ray intensity are directly or indirectly due to solar influences.

19.08.2018 - 20:50 [ National Center for Biotechnology Information / National Institutes of Health ]

Cosmic Influence on the Sun-Earth Environment

(Dezember 2008) Since the early days of human civilization we have looked at the sky and tried to understand the environment of the Earth and the Universe [1, 2, 3, 4, and 5]. We are continuously collecting data for different environmental parameters. Sudden heat or cold waves, tornados, erratic rainfall and snowfall are being observed and their forewarning has been attempted. Efforts have been made to understand the influence of stars and the Sun, which, although they are distant objects in space, can influence the environment of the Earth. Extragalactic cosmic rays measured as neutron counting rate, represent an energy spectrum, which is being received by the solar system from the distant stars; the particles of cosmic rays are atom –nuclei with almost light velocity [6, 7]. The effects of the Sun on the environment of the Earth were found to be modulated by the geomagnetic field and the ionizing potential of the cosmic rays [8]. Earth directed Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and its effects on the thermosphere, ionosphere and atmosphere have been studied. During Earth directed CME a beam of electrons (plasma) is pumped towards the Earth [9]. This beam of electrons is highly conductive and generates an electric field that is transmitted to Earth’s natural plasmosphere and ionosphere. This thin layer of changed electric field further influences the ionosphere and atmosphere of the earth [24]. Since a beam of electrons is carried by an electric current, a magnetic disturbance would be produced. Starbursts are caused by a special variety of neutron star known as a magnetar. These fast-spinning, compact stellar bodies create intense magnetic fields that trigger explosions, which are known as starbursts. Starbursts cause the Sun to develop low Planetary Indices (Kp) and low Electron flux (E-flux) conditions for the Sun-Earth Environment.
(…)
If the electron flux from the sun is low, with the subsequent rise in cosmic rays simultaneously anomalous snowfall and lowering of the atmospheric temperature has been observed. It would be possible to understand the movement of clouds and snowfall, as well as atmospheric moisture, if we could efficiently calculate the influence of space weather and cosmic influence on the thermosphere and atmosphere of the Earth [12]. Based on the same hypothesis it was found that an abnormal rise and sudden fall in E-flux, Kp index and atmospheric temperature has the possibility of triggering earthquakes in active fault areas of the Earth due to temporary changes in the magnetic field of the Earth. The whole process was expressed as a precursor of earthquakes in active fault areas.

19.08.2018 - 20:16 [ PerspectaWeather.com ]

More evidence of an increase in cosmic rays as sun approaches minimum

(26.5.2017) “Spaceweather.com” has led an effort for more than two years to monitor radiation levels in the stratosphere over California with frequent high-altitude helium balloon flights. These balloons contain sensors which detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV and are produced by the crash of primary cosmic rays into Earth’s atmosphere. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners. The findings confirm the notion that indeed cosmic rays have been steadily increasing over California as solar cycle 24 heads towards the next solar minimum. In fact, there has been a 13% increase of stratospheric radiation over California from March 2015 to May 2017.

19.08.2018 - 20:14 [ Bartol Research Institute - University of Delaware ]

COSMIC RAYS AND THE SOLAR CYCLE

Emissions of matter and electromagnetic fields from the Sun increase during high solar activity, making it harder for Galactic cosmic rays to reach Earth. Cosmic ray intensity is lower when solar activity is high.

19.08.2018 - 20:08 [ Washington Post ]

Sun activity is in free fall, but you shouldn’t expect a new little ice age

(11.11.2013) “Solar activity is declining very fast at the moment,” Mike Lockwood, a professor of space environmental physics at Britain’s Reading University, said, “we estimate faster than at any time in the last 9,300 years.”

19.08.2018 - 20:00 [ PerspectaWeather.com ]

Weakest solar cycle in more than a century now heading towards next solar minimum

(1.2.2016) The current solar cycle, #24, is the weakest solar cycle in more than a century and it is now heading towards the next solar minimum phase which would be the beginning of solar cycle #25. The last solar minimum phase lasted from 2007 to 2009 and it was historically weak. In fact, it produced three of the most spotless days on the sun since the middle 1800’s (bar graph below).

19.08.2018 - 19:23 [ Nature.com ]

Declining solar activity linked to recent warming

(6.10.2010) An analysis of satellite data challenges the intuitive idea that decreasing solar activity cools Earth, and vice versa. In fact, solar forcing of Earth’s surface climate seems to work the opposite way around — at least during the current Sun cycle. (…)

Contrary to expectations, the net amount of solar energy reaching Earth’s troposphere — the lowest part of the atmosphere — seems to have been larger in 2007 than in 2004, despite the decline in solar activity over that period.

The spectral changes seem to have altered the distribution of ozone molecules above the troposphere.

19.08.2018 - 19:08 [ ann-geophys.net ]

On the solar cycle dependence of winds and planetary waves as seen from mid-latitude D1 LF mesopause region wind measurements

(März 1998)

Two mechanisms of the development of the wave are discussed: Salby (1981a,b) proposes that the quasi-2-day wave is a resonant ampliÆcation of the antisymmetric (3,3)-normal mode. Plumb (1983), however, suggests that the wave appears due to baroclinic instability near the summer stratospheric wind jet. The climatology of the quasi-2-day wave at Collm was described in detail by Jacobi et al. (1997c), who also pointed out that an influence of the 11-year solar cycle on its amplitude could be seen.

In the following, mesopause wind data measured at the Collm Observatory of the University of Leipzig are investigated with respect to a possible solar cycle dependence.

19.08.2018 - 19:07 [ Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik e.V. an der Universität Rostock ]

Influence of the 11-year solar cycle on planetary wave structures in the stratosphere and mesosphere

(2011) The stationary wave structures in the spatial distribution of stratospheric ozone have a significant influence on the local radiative heating and therefore on planetary wave propagation, temperature, circulation and trace gas distributions in the stratosphere and mesosphere. We show that these effects of O3* , which is the zonally asymmetric component of ozone, are modified by the 11-year cycle in solar irradiation,

19.08.2018 - 17:25 [ Potsdam Institute / Youtube ]

Rossby waves and extreme weather

(15.4.2016) Learn how giant airstreams high in the sky get trapped sometimes – leading to devastating weather extremes on the ground. Copyright: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK and Climate Media Factory. This video was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). PIK research on the subject: – Evidence for wave resonance as a key mechanism for generating high-amplitude quasi-stationary waves in boreal Summer

19.08.2018 - 17:09 [ National Center for Atmospheric Research, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research / ScienceDaily.com ]

Scientists link California droughts, floods to distinctive atmospheric waves

(6.4.2017) Wavenumber-5 consists of five pairs of alternating high- and low-pressure features that encircle the globe about six miles (10 kilometers) above the ground. It is a type of atmospheric phenomenon known as a Rossby wave, a very large-scale planetary wave that can have strong impacts on local weather systems by moving heat and moisture between the tropics and higher latitudes as well as between oceanic and inland areas and by influencing where storms occur.

The slow-moving Rossby waves at times become almost stationary. When they do, the result can be persistent weather patterns that often lead to droughts, floods, and heat waves.

19.08.2018 - 16:56 [ University Corporation for Atmospheric Research . ]

Planetary waves, first found on Earth, are discovered on Sun

(27.3.2017) for a brief period, from 2011 to 2014, scientists had the unprecedented opportunity to see the Sun’s entire atmosphere at once. During that time, observations from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which sits between the Sun and Earth, were supplemented by measurements from NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission, which included two spacecraft orbiting the Sun. Collectively, the three observatories provided a 360-degree view of the Sun until contact was lost with one of the STEREO spacecraft in 2014. McIntosh and his co-authors mined the data collected during the window of full solar coverage to see if the large-scale wave patterns might emerge.

„By combining the data from all three satellites we can see the entire Sun, and that’s important for studies like this because you want the measurements to all be at the same time,“ said Dean Pesnell, SDO project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. „They’re pushing the boundary of how we use solar data to understand the interior of the Sun and where the magnetic field of the Sun comes from.“

19.08.2018 - 16:12 [ Phys.org ]

Waves similar to those controlling weather on Earth have now been found on the Sun

(7.5.2018) The existence of Rossby waves in stars was predicted about forty years ago.

19.08.2018 - 15:53 [ Phys.org ]

Are Rossby waves to blame for Earth’s magnetic field drifting westward?

(16.5.2018) Humans first became aware of the Earth’s magnetic field over 400 years ago, and since that time, have been taking measurements of it. As time passed, it became clear that the field was moving in a westerly direction—and nobody knew why. The actual reason is still not known—Bardsley is proposing a new idea: Somehow, Rossby waves in the Earth’s outer core cause the magnetic drift.

19.08.2018 - 15:51 [ Massachusetts Insitute of Technology ]

Study: Hole in ionosphere is caused by sudden stratospheric warming

(6.8.2018) Geospace research has long established that certain changes in the atmosphere are caused by the sun’s radiation, through mechanisms including solar wind, geomagnetic storms, and solar flares. (…)

One of the more scientifically interesting large-scale atmospheric events is called a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW), in which enormous waves in the troposphere — the lowermost layer of the atmosphere in which we live — propagate upward into the stratosphere. These planetary waves are generated by air moving over geological structures such as large mountain ranges; once in the stratosphere, they interact with the polar jet streams.

19.08.2018 - 14:39 [ Wikipedia ]

Upper-atmospheric models: Planetary waves

According to a report in New Scientist[4] many researchers are in consensus that Rossby waves are acting against the jet stream’s usual pattern and holding it in place. Upper atmospheric studies using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data indicates that during July 2010 these upper air stream patterns were most frequently observed in the Northern Hemisphere.[5] Examination of the climatology data over the same period of time indicates that these wild planetary wave meanderings[6] are not a normal aspect of our regional climate patterns. Meanwhile, ongoing research studies at the University of Reading show that unusual patterns in the polar jet stream are more common during a period of low activity in the solar cycle when the observed sun spot activity and their associated solar flares are at their minimum.

19.08.2018 - 14:34 [ SpaceWeatherArchive.com ]

A Mystery in the Mesosphere

(15.8.2018) Harvey and her colleagues are still working to understand how the extra water got up there. One possibility involves planetary wave activity in the southern hemisphere which can, ironically, boost the upwelling of water vapor tens of thousands of miles away in the north. The phenomenon could also be linked to solar minimum, now underway. It is notable that the coldest and wettest years in the mesosphere prior to 2018 were 2008-2009–the previous minimum of the 11-year solar cycle.

19.08.2018 - 13:32 [ National Snow and Ice Data Center ]

New study explains Antarctica’s coldest temperatures

(25.6.2018) That preliminary study has been revised with new data showing that the coldest sites actually reach -98 degrees Celsius (-144 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperatures are observed during the southern polar night, mostly during July and August.

When the researchers first announced they had found the coldest temperatures on Earth five years ago, they determined that persistent clear skies and light winds are required for temperatures to dip this low. But the new study adds a twist to the story: Not only are clear skies necessary, but the air must also be extremely dry, because water vapor blocks the loss of heat from the snow surface.

19.08.2018 - 13:31 [ boingboing.net ]

Coldest temperature ever recorded makes Earth „almost like another planet“

Nearly 15 degrees colder than the previous record-breaking coldest temperature, which was -128 degrees in 1983 near the South Pole, the temperature in Antarctica dropped to -144 degrees Fahrenheit.

Temperatures this low make Antarctica „almost like another planet,“ says lead researcher Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, quoted in Forbes.

Taking just a few breaths of air this cold would kill you.

19.08.2018 - 12:57 [ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ]

Watching the Sun for Space Weather

(10.8.2018) “Space weather occasionally occurs in tandem with extreme terrestrial weather,” according to scientists from NCEI, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), and other institutions in an open access Space Weather journal article. “When it does, the struggle to mitigate the impacts to life and property can be dramatically intensified. This one-two punch landed on the socioeconomically and technologically diverse communities of the Caribbean islands during the September 2017 hurricane season.”

19.08.2018 - 12:26 [ Express.co.uk ]

Atmosphere MYSTERY: Researchers BAFFLED by strange clouds in the mesosphere

(16.8.2018) Still, it remains unclear why there is so much water vapour so late in the year.

One theory is to do with the upcoming solar minimum.

The sun follows cycles of roughly 11 years where it reaches a solar maximum and then a solar minimum.

During a solar maximum, the sun gives off more heat and is littered with sunspots. Less heat in a solar minimum is due to a decrease in magnetic waves.