Historical sunspot records

Arlt, R.; Vaquero, José M.

doi:10.1007/s41116-020-0023-y

Cited by 103 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 111 publications

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“…Following the onset of sunspot observations in 1610 (e.g., Clette et al, 2014;Arlt & Vaquero, 2020), similar prolonged solar minima have been identified in cosmogenic isotope data based on long-term enhancements of 14 C and 10 Be (e.g., Usoskin, 2017; see Table 1). Major prolonged solar minima over the past millennium gained notoriety in solar physics following a series of studies in the 1970s and 1980s.…”

Section: Naming Of the Grand Minima And The Dalton Minimumsupporting

confidence: 60%

The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton’s Auroral Observations

Silverman¹,

Hayakawa

2021

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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In addition to the regular Schwabe cycles of approximately 11 y, “prolonged solar activity minima” have been identified through the direct observation of sunspots and aurorae, as well as proxy data of cosmogenic isotopes. Some of these minima have been regarded as grand solar minima, which are arguably associated with the special state of the solar dynamo and have attracted significant scientific interest. In this paper, we review how these prolonged solar activity minima have been identified. In particular, we focus on the Dalton Minimum, which is named after John Dalton. We review Dalton’s scientific achievements, particularly in geophysics. Special emphasis is placed on his lifelong observations of auroral displays over approximately five decades in Great Britain. Dalton’s observations for the auroral frequency allowed him to notice the scarcity of auroral displays in the early 19th century. We analyze temporal variations in the annual frequency of such displays from a modern perspective. The contemporary geomagnetic positions of Dalton’s observational site make his dataset extremely valuable because his site is located in the sub-auroral zone and is relatively sensitive to minor enhancements in solar eruptions and solar wind streams. His data indicate clear solar cycles in the early 19th century and their significant depression from 1798 to 1824. Additionally, his data reveal a significant spike in auroral frequency in 1797, which chronologically coincides with the “lost cycle” that is believed to have occurred at the end of Solar Cycle 4. Therefore, John Dalton’s achievements can still benefit modern science and help us improve our understanding of the Dalton Minimum.

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Section: Naming Of the Grand Minima And The Dalton Minimumsupporting

confidence: 60%

The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton’s Auroral Observations

Silverman¹,

Hayakawa

2021

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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“…Naked-eye sunspot observations are the only direct information on historical activity from historical documents of the last two millennia (Arlt & Vaquero, 2020). Fortunately, there are various catalogues of this kind of observations available in the scientific literature (Wittmann & Xu, 1987;Yau & Stephenson, 1988).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

New evidence of the Suess/de Vries cycle existing in historical naked-eye observations of sunspots

Vaquero

2020

Open Astronomy

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Solar activity affects geophysical and heliophysical processes. Long-term changes in solar activity are closely related to climate change. Solar physicists and earth science researchers need longer observations of solar activity. Current continuous observations of solar activity are only about 400 years. Some scholars have compiled naked-eye observations of sunspots from 200 BC to 1918 AD from historical documents. In this present work, the authors use the weighted wavelet transform to study the observations series. The results show the Suess - de Vries cycle with a period from 195- to 235-year existing in the discontinuous sunspot series. Meanwhile, the cycle signal changes with time. Especially, the Suess/de Vries cycle is relatively obvious from 200 BC to 400 AD, 800 AD to 1340 AD, 1610 AD to 1918 AD, with a period of about 211-year, about 195-year, and about 235-year, respectively.

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“…While such a long phase coherence, observed in two rather unrelated proxy datasets for the Schwabe cycle, is most remarkably in itself, one might be even more puzzled by the almost complete equivalence of the cycle period of 11.04 years with the corresponding 11.07‐year period as derived for the last centuries (Stefani et al 2019, 2020). Ironically, the latter value for the more recent times is more disputable than the value for the early Holocene given that the systematic observation of sunspots goes back only to the times of Scheiner and Galileo (Arlt & Vaquero 2020), with grave uncertainties for the time of the Maunder minimum (1645–1715).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase coherence and phase jumps in the Schwabe cycle

et al. 2020

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Guided by the working hypothesis that the Schwabe cycle of solar activity is synchronized by the 11.07‐year alignment cycle of the tidally dominant planets Venus, Earth, and Jupiter, we reconsider the phase diagrams of sediment accumulation rates in Lake Holzmaar and of methanesulfonate data in the Greenland ice core Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2), which are available for the period 10000–9000 cal. BP. As some half‐cycle phase jumps appearing in the output signals are, very likely, artifacts of applying a biologically substantiated transfer function, the underlying solar input signal with a dominant 11.04‐year periodicity can be considered to be mainly phase‐coherent over the 1,000‐year period in the early Holocene. For more recent times, we show that the reintroduction of a hypothesized “lost cycle” at the beginning of the Dalton minimum would lead to a real phase jump. Similarly, by analyzing various series of 14C and 10Be data and comparing them with Schove's historical cycle maxima, we support the existence of another “lost cycle” around 1565, also connected with a real phase jump. Viewed synoptically, our results lend greater plausibility to the starting hypothesis of a tidally synchronized solar cycle, which at times can undergo phase jumps, although the competing explanation in terms of a nonlinear solar dynamo with increased coherence cannot be completely ruled out.

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Historical sunspot records

Cited by 103 publications

References 111 publications

The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton’s Auroral Observations

The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton’s Auroral Observations

New evidence of the Suess/de Vries cycle existing in historical naked-eye observations of sunspots

Phase coherence and phase jumps in the Schwabe cycle

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