Great Conveyor Belt / low sunspot activity
A new study reports that the top of the gigantic conveyor belt of plasma moving inside the sun has been running at record-high speeds for the past five years.
The phenomenon might be the reason why the sun has continued to have so few sunspots recently when it should be ramping up the production of these surface-blotching storms.
"I believe this could explain the unusually deep solar minimum we've been experiencing," said David Hathaway, a solar physicist at NASA and co-author of a new study describing the findings, in a NASA statement. "The high speed of the conveyor belt challenges existing models of the solar cycle and it has forced us back to the drawing board for new ideas."
http://www.space.com/news/sun-record-conveyor-100312.html
The phenomenon might be the reason why the sun has continued to have so few sunspots recently when it should be ramping up the production of these surface-blotching storms.
"I believe this could explain the unusually deep solar minimum we've been experiencing," said David Hathaway, a solar physicist at NASA and co-author of a new study describing the findings, in a NASA statement. "The high speed of the conveyor belt challenges existing models of the solar cycle and it has forced us back to the drawing board for new ideas."
http://www.space.com/news/sun-record-conveyor-100312.html