Black hole (Photo : Reuters)
National Center for Atmospheric Research's Scott McIntosh discovered that the Sun is exhibiting activity fluctuations seasonally. With a team, McIntosh, the lead author of the study, examined the NASA ground observatories and satellites gathered data, NCAR announced. It turned out that the sun has seasons too.
The information showed varied magnetic bands density, increasing intensity from the Sun's interior force, passing through the transitional tachocline layer, and on the surface. Once surfaced, the magnetic disturbances will reveal a link between the coronal mass ejections and the solar flares' activities. The bursts that are magnetic in nature stirs up the corona.
Co-author of the study, Robert Leamon, said, "A lot like the jet stream of the Earth, whose waves and warps have produced a severe impact on the patterns of the regional weather in the recent winters, the Sun's bands have very slow waves which could warp and expand too."
The magnetic bursts go through a cycle of approximately two years that affects and parallels the solar cycle that lasts 11 years. The two-year cycle reveals a phenomenon that is popular as "Gnevyshey Gap." This seasonal, two-year variation drives powerful flares every after a sunspot cycle reaches maximum intensity.
The sun's changing seasons play a vital role in the unstable space weather. Depending on the solar activities' strength, this produces a significant effect on Earth's power grids, mobile phone services, and satellite operations, the Daily Time Gazette shared.
Leamon verified, also, that this discovery could actually help NASA, the military, and the space weather forecasts.
The findings are published in the Nature Communications journal.
