Something Extraordinary Happened on the Sun

According to reports during the past several days from SpaceWeather.com, during 1-Aug-2010, something extraordinary happened on the Sun and sunspot 1092. The occurrence is yet another wake up call that the upcoming 2011 – 2012 solar maximum could be a big one, one we’ve never experienced before with the vulnerable technologies that exist today.

After a period of quiet years, the sun has begun to produce more sunspots which have been firing off solar flares and CME’s (coronal mass ejection). The approximate 11 year cycle is due to peak in 2011 – 2012. The National Center for Atmospheric Research has indicated that this peak could be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one, and could be comparable to the 1958 solar maximum when auroras were frequently seen as far south as Mexico. Back then we had none of the vulnerable technology that is common today, and in fact, the United States had only just launched its very first satellite into space.

During August 1, a complex solar eruption occurred, one which had characteristics that I don’t recall having seen before.

(SpaceWeather.com) On August 1st, the entire Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity. There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass ejection and more.

Seeing the sun erupt on such a global scale has galvanized the international community of solar physicists. Researchers are still sorting out the complex sequence of events and trying to understand why they all happened at once.


Evidently the 11-year solar cycle periods also follow an approximate 40-year cycle which produces even higher levels of solar activity due to the way that the solar ‘conveyer belt’ works. Similar to how the Earth’s ocean conveyer currents work, so do similar currents work on the Sun, except with gases which flow from the poles to the equator and back again. The conveyer sweeps the surface of the sun and picks up any ‘worn out’ geomagnetic regions (decaying sunspots) and pulls them down from the poles deep into the sun where they are re-energized, become buoyant and float back up to the surface. The speed of the conveyer varies to make one loop (30 to 50 years). The conveyer was turning fast between 1986 and 1996 and more geomagnetic activity than normal was swept up during that time, which is expected to reappear as big sunspots when the loop comes around again during the upcoming 2011 – 2012 solar maximum.

Regarding the recent activity on the sun during 1-Aug-2010, the fact that the events occurred all at once, along with the fact that much of the sun was ’shaking’, is enough of a cause for alarm. Alarm in the sense that we need to get our noses out of our Blackberries and iPhones long enough to look around us and see what is going on in the real world. There are events occurring all around that are warning that we are not almighty beings. There are infinitely more powerful forces at work on the Earth and in the Universe while we are mere specks, just along for the ride. We need to take notice, understand what could happen, and become prepared.

Evidently, if a sunspot cycle is going to be more active than normal, it will also ramp up faster than normal. We shall see how this upcoming solar maximum reveals itself during the months ahead. Got food storage?