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Next sunspot cycle will be much stronger 10 March 2006 by Richard Conan-Davies The next sunspot cycle will be about a year later than usual but will be 30 to 50 percent stronger the previous one. This is acording to scientists at at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, USA who using a computer model of solar dynamics.. Cycle 24 as it is known, is expected to produce sunspots across about 2.5 percent of the visible surface of the Sun. Solar cycles are linked to solar storms witch can slow satellite orbits, disrupt communications, and bring down power systems. So being able to predict them more accurately allows engineers to better prepare for the sun’s activities. "Forecasting the solar cycle will help society anticipate solar storms," explains Paul Bellaire, program director in NSF's division of atmospheric sciences, which funded the research. "Important discoveries are being made using helioseismology. Through this technique, we can image even the far side of the Sun."   Solar storms are associated with twisted magnetic fields that suddenly snap and release enourmous amounts of energy. They tend to occur near dark regions of concentrated magnetic fields, known as sunspots. image: nsf.org

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