Science
A Solar Minimum Is Coming
|
|
Because we are normal people living in normal times, normal things are happening. Like news tabloids reporting that the Sun is in “lockdown”, and that Earth is doomed to crazy weather famine and… earthquakes, for some reason.
Well, you can relax. Nothing the Sun is currently doing is going to create freezing weather, famine, or earthquakes. While humans are experiencing things that are decidedly not okay, the Sun is doing nothing unusual whatsoever.
What could be happening is a very normal period in the Sun’s 11-year cycle; it’s called solar minimum. And it’s nothing to be afraid of – if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve already lived through several solar minimums without even noticing.
Currently, we’re in solar cycle 24. We don’t know precisely when the next solar minimum will occur, but we can broadly predict it. Back in 2017, NASA noted that solar minimum was expected in 2019-2020.
In December of last year, the NOAA’s Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel narrowed it down further, stating that “solar minimum between cycles 24 and 25 will occur in April, 2020 (+/- 6 months).”
So, we’re either going through solar minimum already, or are just about to do so. Here’s what that actually entails.
The solar cycle is based on the Sun’s magnetic field, which flips around every 11 years, with its north and south magnetic poles switching places. It’s not known what drives these cycles – recent research suggests it has to do with an 11.07-year planetary alignment – but the poles switch when the magnetic field is at its weakest, also known as solar minimum.
Because the Sun’s magnetic field controls solar activity – sunspots, coronal mass ejections and solar flares – the cycle is detectable to us as that activity changes. During solar minimum, there are, well, minimal sunspots and flares.
This gradually changes as the Sun ramps up to solar maximum. The magnetic field grows stronger, and sunspot and flare activity increases, before subsiding again for the next solar minimum.
The solar cycles aren’t generally noticeable here on Earth. We may see more aurora activity during solar maximum, since auroras are generated by solar activity. Increased solar activity can also affect radio communications, and navigation satellites. People closely observing the Sun will see more sunspots during solar maximum.
At solar minimum, solar ultraviolet radiation decreases, but the effect of this primarily hits the stratosphere and higher altitudes. It causes Earth’s atmosphere to shrink slightly, which reduces drag on satellites. Conversely, the increase in UV radiation during solar maximum contributes to rainfall, but the effect on temperature is negligible.
There is also an increase in galactic cosmic rays from sources such as supernovae during solar minimum. Earth’s atmosphere protects us surface-dwellers from this radiation, which can increase the risk of cancer, but at higher altitudes the radiation does pose an additional hazard to astronauts.
“During solar minimum, the Sun’s magnetic field weakens and provides less shielding from these cosmic rays,” said astronomer Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2017. “This can pose an increased threat to astronauts traveling through space.”
The link to dropping temperatures, earthquakes and famine is tenuous at best. A few days ago, a tabloid called, uh, The Sun cited unnamed “NASA scientists” fearing a repeat of an event known as the Dalton Minimum.
This occurred around the early 19th century, which saw an extreme period in Earth’s recorded history, centred around 1816 – the Year Without a Summer. Temperatures dropped, crops failed, and many people around the world starved to death, or died from the cold.
Except that had nothing to do with the Sun’s activity. All those problems were caused by the colossal 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. In addition, a 2013 paper found no link between solar activity and earthquakes.
The most recent solar cycle was relatively quiet, leading to a lot of fearmongering over an impending Grand Solar Minimum, a longer period of time spanning several cycles where even the maximums are subdued. Reports suggested global temperatures would plummet, producing a mini ice age. NASA gave this idea a sound drubbing earlier this year.
“The warming caused by the greenhouse gas emissions from the human burning of fossil fuels is six times greater than the possible decades-long cooling from a prolonged Grand Solar Minimum,” wrote the NASA Global Climate Change team in February.
“Even if a Grand Solar Minimum were to last a century, global temperatures would continue to warm. Because more factors than just variations in the Sun’s output change global temperatures on Earth, the most dominant of those today being the warming coming from human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.”
Some scientists have drawn a connection between solar minimum and volcanic activity, but it’s weak and different papers don’t agree on the periodicity. But we probably don’t have to worry about that, either. The Sun is significantly more active than it was during the Dalton Minimum, which saw very low sunspot activity from around 1790 to 1830.
And, although cycle 24 was smaller than the previous few cycles, those cycles were unusually strong. Cycle 24 marked a return to a more normal activity level.
So, the solar minimum we’re about to enter doesn’t look particularly unusual, according to the NOAA and NASA, and we can expect a similar intensity to the previous cycle, they noted in their prediction.
If last week’s solar eclipse piqued your interest in astronomy, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s Windsor Chapter plans to show off some of the more dramatic photos and videos members took of the event.
They were stationed along the path of totality along the northern shore of Lake Erie and in the U.S.
“People did take some nice photos with their cellphones, but we have members who took photos and videos with their telescopes,” said member Tom Sobocan. “You’ll see some pretty impressive shots.”
About 100 members are in the local chapter, which meets every third Tuesday of every month.
Thursday’s meeting is at the Ojibway Nature Centre on Matchette Road. It starts at 7:30, and it’s open to the public. Seating is limited, so Sobocan recommends arriving early.
Astronomers are looking ahead to new wonders in the heavens. Right now, the Pons-Brooks Comet, another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, is approaching Jupiter in the constellation of Aries.
“If you’re in a dark-sky location, you can see it with the naked eye, and from inside the city, you can see it with binoculars,” said Sobocan. “It may get a little bit brighter going towards the fall, but our members have already photographed it with their telescopes.”
It’s a periodic comet which appears in the night sky once every 71 years.
Sobocan said once-in-a-lifetime events, like last week’s eclipse, inspired many of its existing members, but he hopes some new ones will join the group.
“I hope it inspires them to look up at the sky a little bit more often and realize that everything’s in motion in the sky,” he said. “It’s not stationary.”
Science
Giant, 82-foot lizard fish discovered on UK beach could be largest marine reptile ever found – Livescience.com
Scientists have unearthed the remains of a gigantic, 200 million-year-old sea monster that may be the largest marine reptile ever discovered.
The newfound creature is a member of a group called ichthyosaurs, which were among the dominant sea predators during the Mesozoic era (251.9 million to 66 million years ago). The newly described species lived during the end of the Triassic period (251.9 million to 201.4 million years ago).
Ichthyosaurs had already attained massive sizes by the early portion of the Mesozoic, but it was not until the late Triassic that the largest species emerged.
While the Mesozoic is known as the age of the dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs were not themselves dinosaurs. Instead, they evolved from another group of reptiles. Their evolutionary path closely mirrors that of whales, which evolved from terrestrial mammals that later returned to the sea. And like whales, they breathed air and gave birth to live young.
The newly discovered ichthyosaur species was unearthed in pieces between 2020 and 2022 at Blue Anchor, Somerset in the United Kingdom. The first chunk of the fossil was noticed atop a rock on the beach, indicating that a passerby had found it and set it there for others to examine, the researchers explained in the paper. The researchers published their findings April 17 in the journal PLOS One.
The reptile’s remains are made up of a series of 12 fragments from a surangular bone, which is found in the upper portion of the lower jaw. The researchers estimate the bone was 6.5 feet (2 meters) long and that the living animal was about 82 feet (25 m) long.
The researchers named the sea monster Ichthyotitan severnensis, meaning giant lizard fish of the Severn, after the Severn Estuary where it was found. The team believes it is not only a new species but an entirely new genus of ichthyosaur. More than 100 species are already known.
window.sliceComponents = window.sliceComponents || ;
externalsScriptLoaded.then(() => {
window.reliablePageLoad.then(() => {
var componentContainer = document.querySelector(“#slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-5Tm52KifRnJsTxFt8noX8R”);
if (componentContainer)
var data = “layout”:”inbodyContent”,”header”:”Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now”,”tagline”:”Get the worldu2019s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.”,”formFooterText”:”By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.”,”successMessage”:”body”:”Thank you for signing up. You will receive a confirmation email shortly.”,”failureMessage”:”There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.”,”method”:”POST”,”inputs”:[“type”:”hidden”,”name”:”NAME”,”type”:”email”,”name”:”MAIL”,”placeholder”:”Your Email Address”,”required”:true,”type”:”hidden”,”name”:”NEWSLETTER_CODE”,”value”:”XLS-D”,”type”:”hidden”,”name”:”LANG”,”value”:”EN”,”type”:”hidden”,”name”:”SOURCE”,”value”:”60″,”type”:”hidden”,”name”:”COUNTRY”,”type”:”checkbox”,”name”:”CONTACT_OTHER_BRANDS”,”label”:”text”:”Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands”,”type”:”checkbox”,”name”:”CONTACT_PARTNERS”,”label”:”text”:”Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors”,”type”:”submit”,”value”:”Sign me up”,”required”:true],”endpoint”:”https://newsletter-subscribe.futureplc.com/v2/submission/submit”,”analytics”:[“analyticsType”:”widgetViewed”],”ariaLabels”:;
var triggerHydrate = function()
window.sliceComponents.newsletterForm.hydrate(data, componentContainer);
if (window.lazyObserveElement)
window.lazyObserveElement(componentContainer, triggerHydrate);
else
triggerHydrate();
}).catch(err => console.log(‘Hydration Script has failed for newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-5Tm52KifRnJsTxFt8noX8R Slice’, err));
}).catch(err => console.log(‘Externals script failed to load’, err));
A number of rib fragments and a coprolite, or fossilized feces, were found in the area as well, but they were not definitively attributed to the same animal.
The sediments in which these specimens were found contained rocks that indicated earthquakes and tsunamis occurred during that time, which suggests that this species lived during a time of intense volcanic activity that may have led to a massive extinction event at the end of the Triassic according to the researchers.
A similar specimen was discovered in Lilstock, Somerset in 2016 and described in 2018. Both were found in what is known at the Westbury Mudstone Formation, within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of each other. This ichthyosaur was estimated to have been as much as 85 feet (26 m) long, although the authors of the latest study believe it was slightly smaller.
The previous contender for the largest marine reptile was another ichthyosaur, Shonisaurus sikanniensis, which was up to 69 feet (21 m) long. S. sikanniensis appeared 13 million years earlier than I. severnensis and was found in British Columbia, making it unlikely that the new discovery represents another specimen of the previously known species.
A similarly massive ichthyosaur called Himalayasaurus tibetensis, which may have reached lengths of 49 feet (15 m), was discovered in Tibet and described in 1972. It dates to the same period, meaning that it probably is not the same species as the new discovery either.
I. severnensis was likely among the last of the giant ichthyosaurs, the researchers claim. Ichthyosaurs persisted into the Cenomanian Age (100.5 million to 93.9 million years ago) of the late Cretaceous period (100.5 million to 66 million years ago). They were eventually supplanted by plesiosaurs — long-necked marine reptiles that went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, alongside all non-avian dinosaurs.
- Home
- Politics
- Federal Politics
The Canadian Space Agency also received a proposed $8.6 million for its lunar program
Nicole Mortillaro (new window) · CBC News
Canada’s space sector received a boost from the federal government in its budget, both in terms of money and vision.
The 2024 budget (new window) included a proposal for $8.6 million in 2024-25 to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (new window) (LEAP), which invests in technologies for humanity’s return to the moon and beyond.
In addition to the funding, the federal government also announced the creation of a National Space Council, which will be a new whole-of-government approach to space exploration, technology development, and research.
For Space Canada (new window), an organization comprised of roughly 80 space sector companies including some of Canada’s largest, such as Magellan Aerospace (new window), Maritime Launch (new window) and MDA Space (new window), it was a welcome announcement.
We’ve been advocating for it since the inception of our organization, and we were really very happy, and we applaud the federal government’s commitment announced in the budget,
said Brian Gallant, CEO of Space Canada.
Gallant said that investment in space is an investment in Canada.
Two-thirds of space sector jobs are STEM jobs. These are good paying solid jobs for Canadians. And on top of that, we have approximately $2.8 billion that is injected into the Canadian economy because of the space sector,
he said.
The U.S. formed its National Space Council in 1989, but it was disbanded in 1992 and reestablished in 2017.
In the 2023 budget (new window), the government announced proposed spending of $1.2 billion over 13 years, that was to begin in 2024-25, to the CSA’s contribution of a lunar utility (new window) vehicle that would assist astronauts on the moon. The as–yet–developed vehicle could help astronauts move cargo from landing sites to habitats, perform science investigations or support them during spacewalks on the surface of the moon.
It also proposed to invest $150 million over five years for the LEAP program.
MDA Space, the company behind Canadarm, was also pleased with the announcement.
Canada has an enviable global competitive advantage in space and the creation of a National Space Council is critical to Canada maintaining that leadership position,
CEO Mike Greenley said in an email to CBC News.
Space is now a rapidly growing, highly strategic and competitive domain, and there is a real and urgent need to recognize its importance to the lives of Canadians and to our economy and national security.
The next project for MDA is Canadarm3, which will be part of Lunar Gateway, a international space station that will orbit the moon. It will serve as a sort of jumping-off point for astronauts heading to the moon and eventually beyond.
The Lunar Gateway is a great opportunity for Canada and for MDA Space to not only provide the next generation of Canadarm robotics but to clearly plant our flag as a core national and industry participant in the Artemis era,
Greenley said.
Lunar Gateway is set to begin construction no earlier than 2025 (new window), according to NASA.
The real estate sector's unique view of 2024 — and what's to come – Yahoo Finance
‘I wanted it’: Matthews’ great chase for 70 masks Maple Leafs’ concerns – Sportsnet.ca
Nothing's Ear and Ear (a) earbuds with active noise cancellation are now available for pre-order – Engadget
Silver investment demand jumped 12% in 2019
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
Global Media Markets, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F – TV and Radio Broadcasting, Film and Music, Information Services, Web Content, Search Portals And Social Media, Print Media, & Cable – GlobeNewswire
-
Business21 hours ago
Rupture on TC Energy's NGTL gas pipeline sparks wildfire in Alberta – The Globe and Mail
-
News22 hours ago
Loblaws Canada groceries: Shoppers slam store for green onions with roots chopped off — 'I wouldn't buy those' – Yahoo News Canada
-
Investment21 hours ago
Saudi Arabia Highlights Investment Initiatives in Tourism at International Hospitality Investment Forum
-
Tech15 hours agoCytiva Showcases Single-Use Mixing System at INTERPHEX 2024 – BioPharm International
-
Art22 hours ago
Squatters at Gordon Ramsay's Pub Have 'Left the Building' After Turning It Into an Art Café – PEOPLE
-
Politics21 hours ago
The Earthquake Shaking BC Politics
-
Science20 hours ago
Nasa confirms metal chunk that crashed into Florida home was space junk
-
Science22 hours ago
Federal government announces creation of National Space Council – CBC News
