While we’ve known about this for quite some time at WUWT, going back to August 2013, the story is now starting to make the rounds in the MSM.
And, NASA has created a cool visualization of the event. Video follows. From the NASA video description:
This visualization shows the position of the sun’s magnetic fields from January 1997 to December 2013. The field lines swarm with activity: The magenta lines show where the sun’s overall field is negative and the green lines show where it is positive. A region with more electrons is negative, the region with less is labeled positive. Additional gray lines represent areas of local magnetic variation.
The entire sun’s magnetic polarity, flips approximately every 11 years — though sometimes it takes quite a bit longer — and defines what’s known as the solar cycle. The visualization shows how in 1997, the sun shows the positive polarity on the top, and the negative polarity on the bottom. Over the next 12 years, each set of lines is seen to creep toward the opposite pole eventually showing a complete flip. By the end of the movie, each set of lines are working their way back to show a positive polarity on the top to complete the full 22 year magnetic solar cycle.
At the height of each magnetic flip, the sun goes through periods of more solar activity, during which there are more sunspots, and more eruptive events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. The point in time with the most sunspots is called solar maximum.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/PFSS
The WUWT solar reference page has this revealing plot from Dr. Leif Svalgaard:
Solar Polar Fields – Mt. Wilson and Wilcox Combined -1966 to Present
Leif Svalgaard – Click the pic to view at source
email from Todd Hoeksema [WSO]
Hi folks,
We can now confirm that the south pole of the Sun as measured by WSO has reversed polarity.
We’ve just updated the analysis for the last month or so as Earth approached the solar equator from the north.
The latest table polar field measurements is at http://wso.stanford.edu/Polar.html
The latest plot of the south pole observations is at http://wso.stanford.edu/gifs/south.gif
lsvalgaard says:
January 4, 2014 at 2:58 pm
lsvalgaard says:
January 4, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Carla says:
January 4, 2014 at 2:31 pm
Humor me and have a look..
I did. The HCS has nothing to do with the LOD. The authors are quite correct in their Characterisation.
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Thank you Dr. S.
I didn’t read the article myself, not what I was cherry picking for that day.
From my reading of a different article, I thought that LOD (Length of Day) rose and fell over the solar cycle during rise and fall of sunspot cycle. (59 browser windowns open)
I knew that that article did not make a solar connection for length of day. But browsed the images anyway. And that is when I thought I was seeing a connection to the HCS. But you say no. The geomagnetic jerks seem to correspond to HCS jerks during its rise and fall. But hey.
Their explanation (from the article)
“””What could give rise to such an effect? Occurring simultaneously with geomagnetic jerks,
the LOD jumps, like the oscillation, most likely originate from the core.”””
When all else fails invoke the core, yeah sure ok..
Now Vuks may find the graphs interesting and useful.
And William Astley might find it useful as well … 4 geomagnetic jerks from 1999 to 2007. That’s what the vertical dashed lines were in the graphs..
Page 21 Figure S3 1960-2011 LOD (ms)
Characterisation and implications of intradecadal variations
in length-of-day
R. Holme1 & O. de Viron2
http://www.liv.ac.uk/~holme/nature_sub.pdf
HCS Helio Current Sheet in time
http://wso.stanford.edu/gifs/Tilts.gif
But thank you anyway, Dr. Svalgaard.
And where did Mr. Weber put all those marbles.
Were we supposed to read Pier’s forecast to get the 282 thingy?
How many bumps (waves) are there currently in the HCS?
Read somewhere (lol) ususally two major and up to 8 in varying size. Some of the smaller Earth only skims while it orbits.
lsvalgaard says:
January 5, 2014 at 12:51 pm
Does anybody find this convincing:
http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/409/1/012239/pdf/1742-6596_409_1_012239.pdf
I do not.
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Didn’t read this either, but first ‘question mark’ is, location, location, location.
Patients from Georgia and Greece and Cosmic Ray data from..
“”””Daily pressure corrected data of the CRI were obtained from Moscow Neutron Monitor Station””””
Carla says:
January 6, 2014 at 6:33 pm
lsvalgaard says:
January 5, 2014 at 12:51 pm
Does anybody find this convincing:
http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/409/1/012239/pdf/1742-6596_409_1_012239.pdf
I do not.
—————–
Didn’t read this either, but first ‘question mark’ is, location, location, location.
Carla says:
January 6, 2014 at 5:20 pm
But hey. Their explanation (from the article)
“””What could give rise to such an effect? Occurring simultaneously with geomagnetic jerks,
the LOD jumps, like the oscillation, most likely originate from the core.”””
When all else fails invoke the core, yeah sure ok..
since the geomagnetic field and its variation originate deep in the core, that would be the natural place to look for the cause of the jerks.
Ok Carla, don’t worry, the marbles are not missing…. 282: you could, but you don’t have to, if you know how to look…. doh, I said too much – later
lsvalgaard says:
January 6, 2014 at 12:18 pm
…Two sources can interact if there is a field between them [gravitational field, magnetic field, what have you]. Any influence of one upon the other source is mediated by the field between them. Any change of conditions at one source has to travel as a wave in the field between them to the other source. For a magnetic field in a plasma the travel speed is called the Alfven speed. The solar wind is moving away from the Sun many times faster than the Alfven speed, so a magnetic influence cannot travel upstream.
I understand what you have been saying, the discussion about basic polarities is not born out of ‘Willful ignorance’, I’ll point out that the interaction of north/south polarities are undetectable until a third medium reacts with and highlights the position and/or movement of the polarities, such as the suns convection zone and sunspot activity, or the polar orientation of the planet Uranus.
Polarities are generated within a planetary body or a star and magnetic fields are generated by the interaction between polarities (Opposite poles attract but similar poles repel each other).
I’m Not claiming the planets are the cause of the solar cycle, I am pointing out a basic mechanism which can interrupt the timing of the solar dynamo, under the force of the sun itself. This mechanism has the ability to produce prolonged solar minimums, lasting centuries.
Sparks says:
January 9, 2014 at 12:07 pm
the polar orientation of the planet Uranus.
What happens on Uranus cannot [and does not] influence the Sun for the reasons I have explained. It seems to me that you willfully ignore that.
Leif,
I actually haven’t ignored what you have said.
Sparks says:
January 9, 2014 at 12:21 pm
I actually haven’t ignored what you have said.
Then why do still maintain that Uranus does unholy things to the Sun?
lsvalgaard says:
January 9, 2014 at 12:22 pm
“Then why do still maintain that Uranus does unholy things to the Sun?”
giggles!
Leif,
In all seriousness, there is an unresolved issue between the astronomical observations and the solar observations, ‘the timing’ is incredible.