{"id":62144,"date":"2025-02-22T08:57:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T12:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=62144"},"modified":"2025-02-22T08:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T12:57:01","slug":"a-second-solar-max-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/a-second-solar-max-peak\/","title":{"rendered":"A Second Solar Max Peak?"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

SOLAR MAX — IS A SECOND PEAK COMING? <\/span><\/strong>Last October, NOAA and NASA announced that Solar Max has arrived<\/a>. Only half the sun got the memo. The majority of solar activity has been happening in just one of the sun’s hemispheres–the south. The solar superstorm of May 10, 2024, for instance, was caused by a monster southern sunspot.<\/p>\n

It makes you wonder, is the other<\/em> half of Solar Max still coming? This plot of hemispheric sunspot numbers from SILSO<\/a> provides some context:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here we see all seven solar cycles of the Space Age, punctuated by current Solar Cycle 25 on the far right. The most recent cycles are double peaked, with northern sunspots (green) and southern sunspots (red) reaching their own Solar Max ~two years apart. This isn’t big news. Researchers have long known that the two hemispheres of the sun are slightly out of sync. The north vs. south delay is called the “Gnevyshev gap<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

This composite image of last year’s sunspots shows how dominant the southern hemisphere has been:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For forecasters of the solar cycle, this raises an interesting possibility: Maybe the northern peak is still coming. Indeed, there are signs in February 2025 that the pendulum is swinging. This month’s sunspots have been more evenly distributed between the two hemispheres, a sign that activity may be shifting north.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the northern peak might have already occured [sic]. Take another look at the first plot<\/a>. There is a puny northern peak near the beginning of Solar Cycle 25. Perhaps that was it. (Indeed, that would jibe with the north-first, south-second order of recent double peaks.)<\/p>\n

This discussion focuses attention on the north-south balance of sunspots. A northern shift in the months ahead could herald a second peak and another year or two of excellent auroras before Solar Cycle 25 finally peters out. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

Published by Spaceweather.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Posted by Robert Gulley, K4PKM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  SOLAR MAX — IS A SECOND PEAK COMING? Last October, NOAA and NASA announced that Solar Max has arrived. Only half the sun got the memo. The majority of solar activity has been happening in just one of the sun’s hemispheres–the south. The solar superstorm of May 10, 2024, for instance, was caused by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":30764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[414],"class_list":["post-62144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-solar-cycle-25"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Sunspot.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-gak","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41285,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/a-new-sunspot-emerges-breaking-40-day-spotless-streak\/","url_meta":{"origin":62144,"position":0},"title":"A new sunspot emerges, breaking 40 day spotless streak","author":"Thomas","date":"December 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Spaceweather.com via Michael Bird) A SUNSPOT FROM THE NEXT SOLAR CYCLE: Breaking a string of 40 spotless days, a new sunspot is emerging in the sun's southern hemisphere. It comes from the next solar cycle. The unnumbered spot is inset in this map of solar magnetic fields from NASA's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/unnamed-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40431,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/one-sunspot-into-solar-cycle-25\/","url_meta":{"origin":62144,"position":1},"title":"One sunspot into Solar Cycle 25","author":"Thomas","date":"November 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Spaceweather Archive via Michael Bird) Nov. 1, 2019:\u00a0Breaking a string of 28 spotless days, a new sunspot (AR2750) is emerging in the sun\u2019s southern hemisphere\u2013and it\u2019s a member of the next solar cycle. A picture of the sunspot is inset in this magnetic map of the sun\u2019s surface from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Susnapot-Cycle-25.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Susnapot-Cycle-25.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Susnapot-Cycle-25.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62835,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/a-new-solar-cycle-wrinkle\/","url_meta":{"origin":62144,"position":2},"title":"A New Solar Cycle Wrinkle","author":"Robert Gulley","date":"May 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting article caught my attention on spaceweather.com concerning new research on what is called the Gleissberg Cycle. Interested? Read on! THE COUNTER-INTUITIVE QUIET CONTINUES: Big sunspots usually produce big solar flares. Giant sunspot 4079 is an exception to the rule. All week long, it has been strangely quiet, producing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Sunspots-070723-500LR-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Sunspots-070723-500LR-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Sunspots-070723-500LR-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31835,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/sunspots-are-in-short-supply-and-its-only-getting-worse\/","url_meta":{"origin":62144,"position":3},"title":"Sunspots are in short supply (and it’s only getting worse)","author":"Thomas","date":"May 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately, this is not news to brighten your day. According to Spaceweather.com, sunspots are disappearing faster than expected: Sunspots are becoming scarce. Very scarce. So far in 2018 the sun has been blank almost 60% of the time, with whole weeks going by without sunspots. Today's sun, shown here in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SunSpots-None.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42715,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/solar-minimum-deep-deeper-and-even-deeper\/","url_meta":{"origin":62144,"position":4},"title":"Solar Minimum: Deep, Deeper…and even Deeper?","author":"Troy Riedel","date":"April 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Solar Minimum is DEEP and appears to be continuing.\u00a0 Observer Franky Dubois from Belgium - who posts for the Solar Section of A.L.P.O. - Assoc. of Lunar & Planetary Observers (http:\/\/alpo-astronomy.org\/) has fully observed three complete Solar Cycles over the past 38-years and he's graphed the Sunsport R Number -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/R-20200300-1024x660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/R-20200300-1024x660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/R-20200300-1024x660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30763,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/solar-minimum-a-relative-large-sunspot-makes-appearance\/","url_meta":{"origin":62144,"position":5},"title":"Solar Minimum: A “relatively large” sunspot makes appearance","author":"Thomas","date":"February 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Southgate ARC) With Solar Minimum right around the corner, sunspot counts are at an almost 10-year low. So it came as a surprise yesterday when a relatively large sunspot emerged near the sun's eastern limb. AR2699\u00a0has a primary dark core larger than Earth with many smaller magnetic condensations trailing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunspots","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Sunspot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62147,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62144\/revisions\/62147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}