Ending the year on an up note

31 12 2008

I thought about writing a year end recap, but then I saw my traffic count for the month at 00 GMT (4PM PST), and thought that would do just as well at telling the story for this year. After a slight dip in October and November, WUWT has reached a new high at nearly 900,000 page views this month.

wuwt-stats-2008-520

Click for a larger image

Not bad for a 12 month growth. My hit counter, as of this writing, stands at:

6,840,995 hits

In December 2007, I hadn’t even broken 500,000.

Thanks to each and every one of you for visiting, contributing, and commenting. Thanks especially to the moderating team who keeps the temperature of this blog down whilst I think up new topics.

Here were the top 7 most popular posts in 2008, in case you missed them: Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 95 Comments »

Categories : Announcements

2008 Ends Spotless and with 266 Spotless Days, the #2 Least Active Year Since 1900, Portends Cooling

31 12 2008

From ICECAP

By Joseph D’Aleo CCM, AMS Fellow

2008 will be coming to a close with yet another spotless days according to the latest solar image.

image

This will bring the total number of sunspotless days this month to 28 and for the year to 266, clearly enough to make 2008, the second least active solar year since 1900.

image
See larger image here.

The total number of spotless days this spolar minimum is now at around 510 days since the last maximum. The earliest the minimum of the sunspot cycles can be is July 2008, which would make the cycle length 12 years 3 months, longest since cycle 9 in 1848. If the sun stays quiet for a few more months we will rival the early 1800s, the Dalton Minimum which fits with the 213 year cycle which begin with the solar minimum in the late 1790s.

image
See larger image here.

Long cycles are cold and short ones like the ones in the 1980s and 1990s are warm as this analysis by Friis-Christensen in 1991 showed clearly. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 250 Comments »

Categories : Science, solar