# NASA, NOAA Say Solar Cycle 24 Has Arrived



## K4SMX (May 19, 2007)

"With the appearance of Sunspot 981 - a high-lattitude, reversed polarity sunspot - on Friday, January 4, experts at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that Cycle 24 is here now. 'This sunspot is like the first robin of spring,' said solar physicist Douglas Biesecker of the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), part of NOAA. 'In this case, it's an early omen of solar storms that will gradually increase over the next few years.' ......"

"......NASA's (David) Hathaway, along with colleague Robert Wilson at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco last month, said that Solar Cycle 24 'looks like it's going to be one of the most intense cycles since record-keeping began almost 400 years ago.' They believe the next solar maximum should peak around 2010 with a sunspot number of 160, plus or minus 25. 'This would make it one of the strongest solar cycles of the past 50 years - which is to say one of the strongest in recorded history.' ....."

".....violent solar eruptions occur more often on the Sun during an active period. According to NASA, solar flares and vast explosions, known as coronal mass ejections, shoot energetic photons and highly-charged matter toward Earth, jolting the planet's ionosphere and geomagnetic field. This has the potential to effect power grids, critical military and airline communication, satellites and Global Positioning System (GPS) signals....."

".....Many forecasters believe Solar Cycle 24 will be big and intense. 'Solar cycles usually take a few years to build to a frenzy and Cycle 24 will be no exception. We still have some quiet times ahead,' said Hathaway."

_________
Source: QST Magazine, March 2008, p. 59, "Happenings"


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## JeffBowser (Dec 21, 2006)

Huh. I knew it. When I look at the sun, I see spots for hours afterwards. This only confirms what I already knew. 400 years ago I saw no spots, now I see all kinds !


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

And with increased solar cycle activity comes an increase in global temperatures on Earth. National Geographic had a special on not too long ago that discussed this. While some disagreed, the consensus of most was that solar activity was the only thing that could be proved to affect this planet's climate on such a global scale. 

And no conservation or other politically sensitive solution can stop it. Well, there is one solution: we can just turn off the Sun at night.


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## K4SMX (May 19, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> While some disagreed, the consensus of most was that solar activity was the only thing that could be proved to affect this planet's climate on such a global scale......


It'll probably be a bit longer then before you can emerge from your "Global Warming Station".


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Should I load up on Duct tape or was that for something else?


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

Lord Vader said:


> And with increased solar cycle activity comes an increase in global temperatures on Earth. National Geographic had a special on not too long ago that discussed this. While some disagreed, the consensus of most was that solar activity was the only thing that could be proved to affect this planet's climate on such a global scale.
> 
> And no conservation or other politically sensitive solution can stop it. Well, there is one solution: we can just turn off the Sun at night.


On the other hand, things still look rather quiet:

"The sun has gone quiet, really quiet."

Maybe things are about to cool off - both sun spot and temperature wise.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

Yeah! Maybe 15m and 10m will be useful again. I remember all the fun I had with 10m DX to Europe back in the early 90s.


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## cweave02 (Oct 12, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> Well, there is one solution: we can just turn off the Sun at night.


And tonight, for at least a couple of hours, we can turn off the moon as well!

:gott: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/lunar.html


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=119752


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

Lord Vader said:


> And with increased solar cycle activity comes an increase in global temperatures on Earth. National Geographic had a special on not too long ago that discussed this. While some disagreed, the consensus of most was that solar activity was the only thing that could be proved to affect this planet's climate on such a global scale.
> 
> And no conservation or other politically sensitive solution can stop it. Well, there is one solution: we can just turn off the Sun at night.


I thought it was vice versa, more sun spots, cooler earth.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Not according to the NG special I watched. In fact, they cited several global cooling periods of the last 2000 years, and each corresponded--perhaps not coincidentally--with a lull in sunspot activity.

Interesting.


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## JeffBowser (Dec 21, 2006)

If we are going to now talk about global warming, and man's effects, how many of you know that between 800 and 1200AD, Scandinavia, Iceland, Scotland, and the high country of England and Wales, farming became common in regions which neither before nor since have yielded crops reliably. In Iceland, oats and barley were cultivated. In Norway, farmers were planting further north and higher up hillsides than at any time for centuries. Greenland was 4deg. to 7deg.F warmer than at present and settlers could bury their dead in ground which is now permanently frozen. 
I wonder how long before Al Gore claims credit for that.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

JeffBowser said:


> If we are going to now talk about global warming, ...


No, we're not. Not in the General Satellite forum.

:backtotopic


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

Some of the things that they're talking about with this sun cycle are pretty scary...

"...energetic photons and highly-charged matter toward Earth, jolting the planet's ionosphere and geomagnetic field. This has the potential to effect power grids, critical military and airline communication, *satellites *"

I think the cable companies put the sun up to this! :grin:


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Ah, but the cable companies get their signals by satellite also, the same satellites used by the satellite companies to receive their programming.


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## JeffBowser (Dec 21, 2006)

Ouch, summarily spanked by a mod 

I wonder how many of us with good OTA setups are going to be glad we have them, or can this also reach all the way to terrestial OTA ?



James Long said:


> No, we're not. Not in the General Satellite forum.
> 
> :backtotopic


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## N5XZS (Apr 26, 2002)

Good news for ham radio DXing!!!  :goodjob: 

2-21-08


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