Solar predictions bring heat and light
The Sun appears to be calming but that does not necessarily mean cooling on EarthOver the last few years, the politics of climate change have been amply forged in the fires of a changeable Sun.
And the story is here again, in the form of research unveiled this week at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Solar Physics Division in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The solar science, described graphically in a Discover Magazine post – “an east/west river of gas” which “flows under the surface of the Sun” that can’t be seen directly but which is inferred from “sound waves that travel from it to the surface” – is fascinating.
And what it suggests is that the Sun appears set to quieten further over the next solar cycle than it already has – with lower sunspot activity, and perhaps marginally lower energy output.
But as to the implications on Earth – well, for anyone who’s followed this story for a while, they’re very familiar, and the telling of them is laced with equally familiar political overtones.
to read more, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13792479