User:DaltonPouliot/Modern Maximum

Modern Maximum
The Modern Maximum, also known as the Solar Modern Maximum, refers to a period of intensifying solar activity from the sun during one of its solar cycles. . In essence, our sun goes through a solar cycle every 11 years, and during the solar cycle, the sun will generally have a large increase in solar activity, which is why it's known as the Solar Modern Maximum, which produces higher energy outputs, solar eruptions, and a large number of sunspots. As new reports are released, scientists suggest that the modern solar maximum could be a larger part of our planet's ongoing climate change than what was once thought.

Solar Cycle
Much information is still unknown; however, researchers have come to a more recent conclusion as to why the sun may experience these moments of intensity during the Solar Modern Maximum. Recent studies state that during the Modern Maximum event, scientists recorded that the sun's magnetic poles will begin to flip and eventually change completely, and throughout the change in polarity, the sun will start to experience these microbursts of energy due to the sudden changes within its very large magnetic field. The main concern with these sudden changes in polarity is whether or not this greatly affects the sun's total solar irradiance, which is a measure of the total energy that is produced from the sun's luminosity, given that the Earth relies on this energy source in order for life to thrive, and any sudden changes could be detrimental. However, recent reports have stated that the changes in solar irradiance our sun experiences in these short cycles are often minimal, which is equivalent to a change of 0.15% in most cases, and this leads scientists to believe that these short periods of time won't greatly affect the planet's overall greenhouse effect, although these short cycles over long periods of time could have measurable impacts.

Effects on The Earth

This leads scientists to suggest that the modern solar maximum could be a larger part of our planet's ongoing climate change than once thought. To start, Greenland has an ongoing project known as the Ice core project, which is designed to represent the possible temperature variations that Greenland has experienced over thousands of years. Scientists use argon and nitrogen isotopes trapped within air pockets to collect data on temperature fluctuations during certain periods. Using this method, scientists found a series of data that suggests solar variability within the sun's modern maximum cycles could have been the main cause of the great cooling that Greenland experienced from 1970-1990. After taking a look at previous solar records, scientists found that between 1950 to the early 1980s the sun had experienced very high solar activity during the modern maximum cycle.

This leads many researchers to suggest that higher solar activity could relate to larger cold spells which could be experienced either globally or throughout smaller regions. To test this theory, data needs to be collected that can indicate when the sun will begin to enter a cycle of high or low solar activity this way temperature fluctuations can be tested and recorded. One-way scientists have recorded different solar cycles is by examining the sunspots that are currently on the star and comparing them with earlier known sunspot occurrences. For example, the largest known recorded number of sunspots on the sun was during the 20th century, and these values haven't been seen since the late 18th century. Also, as mentioned earlier Greenland had experienced a very large cold spell at the time of this solar cycle.