[AReU] <---- The Maunder Minimum

[Ron Youvan]

[AReU]

   I have mentioned to many (fellow HAMs) the "strangeness" of our current
place in the sunspot cycle, we seem to be between the 23 and 24th cycles.
   We seem to have be stuck in here for last 2 or 3 years, more than normal.
   We currently have none, not one in sight.

   When sun spots are plentiful long distance HF communications is supported
with a high MUF because the emissions of the sun spots which are corona
ejections of energy and matter, from the surface of our sun that ionize the
"ionosphere level" of our atmosphere, which is where it gets it's name.
   This makes the ionosphere conductive which reflects our HF radio signals
back down over the horizon enabling long distance communications.  (contacts)
   When the ionosphere is highly conductive HF communications over long
distances become very common, in fact it becomes like "shooting ducks in a
barrel."  To me it is more fun when it is harder to do.  There is more of a
challenge in times like we have now.

   This has occurred in the past and in spades with the The Maunder Minimum.
From:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_minimum

The Maunder Minimum is the name given to the period roughly from 1645 to 1715,
when sunspots became exceedingly rare, as noted by solar observers of the time.
  It is named after the solar astronomer Edward W. Maunder (1851–1928) who
studied changes of sunspots latitudes in different times and also during second
part of 17th Century. Edward Maunder published two papers in 1890 and 1894 and
he mentioned about earlier papers written by G. Sporer. The time of Minimum
duration was taken from Sporer article.

During one 30-year period within the Maunder Minimum, astronomers observed only
about 50 sunspots, as opposed to a more typical 40,000–50,000 spots in modern times.
------------
The Maunder Minimum coincided with the middle — and coldest part — of the
Little Ice Age, during which Europe and North America, and perhaps much of
the rest of the world, were subjected to bitterly cold winters. Whether
there is a causal connection between low sunspot activity and cold winters
is the subject of ongoing debate (e.g., see Global Warming).


   Another possible complication that is worth reading is from:

wattsupwiththat.com/2008/06/02/livingston-and-penn-paper-sunspots-may-vanish-by-2015/
<
Let us all hope that they are wrong, for a solar epoch period like the Maunder
Minimum inducing a Little Ice Age will be a worldwide catastrophe economically,
socially, environmentally, and morally.

I’m still very much concerned about the apparent step change in 2005 to a lower
plateau of the Geomagnetic Average Planetary (Ap) index, that I’ve plotted below.
This is something that does not appear in the previous cycle:
>
MUF = maximum usable frequency
-- 
    Ron  KA4INM - around here the TAXing authorities have become quite skilled at taking
                  every opportunity to TAX and it shows.  (while giving very poor service)