Solar Maximum Double-Peak, Later in 2013
The current solar cycle was predicted by NASA etc to peak in late 2012, or early 2013. So far it has actually been very quiet. There are two possibilities as to where we are at in the cycle:
1. It actually peaked, albeit very weakly, back in 2011
2. It is going to have a double peak, with 2011 and mid/late 2013
The second possibility would not be terribly surprising, for the last two cycles ended with a double peak.
Pesnell notes yet another complication: “The last two solar maxima, around 1989 and 2001, had not one but two peaks.” Solar activity went up, dipped, then resumed, performing a mini-cycle that lasted about two years.
The same thing could be happening now. Sunspot counts jumped in 2011, dipped in 2012, and Pesnell expects them to rebound again in 2013.
Pesnell is a leading member of the NOAA/NASA Solar Cycle Prediction Panel, a blue-ribbon group of solar physicists who assembled in 2006 and 2008 to forecast the next Solar Max.
[Source: The Watchers]
