Solar Cycle 24

Solar Cycle 24 has been the subject of much speculation due to competing forecasts on whether it will be an highly active or a quiet low cycle. If it is a low cycle, it may very well be a test of validity for some CO2 based AGW theories. Only time will tell. A magnetically reversed, high-latitude sunspot, dubbed as number 981, emerged on the surface of the sun today. Just a few months ago, an “All Quiet Alert” had been issued for the sun. This reversed polarity sunspot today marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 24 and the sun’s return back to Solar Maximum.

The first sunspot region with Solar Cycle 24 polarity was numbered by the Space Weather Prediction Center on January 4 at 2000 UTC (3:00 P.M. EST). The sunspot region was officially numbered as 10981
.


This does not mean the new cycle has officially started; however, this is a clear sign Solar Cycle 24 is within sight. Sunspots are tracked because they indicate the level of space weather activity we expect. Solar activity is forecast to reach a peak in 2011 or 2012.

Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA, USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More information is available at SWPC’s Web site.



The official Solar Cycle 24 prediction is for Sunspot Number and begins March 2008. The graph shows a simple interpolation from the current date to March 2008