Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
May 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011spd....42.1743m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, SPD meeting #42, #17.43; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
The minimum of solar cycle 23 was characterized by very weak polar field strength and a large number of sunspot-less days that was unprecedented in the space age. This has had significant consequences in the heliospheric space environment in terms of record-high cosmic-ray flux and low levels of solar irradiance - which is the primary natural driver of the climate system. During this un-anticipated phase, there was some speculation as to whether the solar minimum could lead to a Maunder-like grand minimum which coincided with the Little Ice Age. Here we present the first consistent explanation of the defining characteristics of this unusual minimum based on variations in the solar meridional plasma flows, and discuss how our results compare with observations.
This work is funded by NASA Living With a Star Grant NNX08AW53G to Montana State University/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Government of India's Ramanujan Fellowship.
Martens Petrus C. H.
Muñoz-Jaramillo Andrés
Nandy Dibyendu
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