Solar Upswing Presents New Research Opportunities

摘要

The sun has now rebounded from what experts say was an unusually quiet solar minimum, and with a host of new space sensors on orbit or launching soon, the new solar cycle promises to be an enlightening one.rnThe sun's magnetic energy ramps up and down in cycles that typically last around 11 years. Over the next few years, the sun's magnetic field will grow stronger, and the amount of ultraviolet radiation and particles that reach the Earth will increase. The changes in the solar magnetic field have a number of effects on Earth, some of which can be disruptive to critical technologies such as GPS and the electric power grid.