Fergie's Tech Blog

Solar Forecast: Sunny With Chances for Moderate Coronal Ejections

David Biello writes on American Scientific:

When it comes to predicting the weather, no two forecasters agree. The same apparently holds true in space weather. Nevertheless, a panel of 12 international experts, ranging from solar physicists to modelers, has managed to forge a consensus around the next solar cycle.

The prediction: solar minimum—the period of the fewest average number of sunspots and solar storms but the maximum for cosmic rays—will come within six months of March of next year. Cycle 24 will peak in either October of 2011 with roughly 140 sunspots that year or in August of 2012 with roughly 90 sunspots in that year, either slightly above or below the average of 114 sunspots in a year. And this solar cycle will likely last nearly as long as the current one.

posted by Fergie @ 4/25/2007 06:20:00 PM