University of Maryland
Computer & Space Science Building, Room 2400
4:30 PM Monday, October 19, 2009
Coffee, Tea & Cookies 4:15-4:30 PM
Neil Sheeley
NRL
"What's So Peculiar about the Current Sunspot Minimum?"
Abstract: Traditionally, solar physicists become anxious during sunspot minimum as they await the high-latitude sunspot groups of the new cycle. Now, the Sun is slowly emerging from an extended sunspot minimum with conditions not seen in several cycles. In this talk, I will describe some of the characteristics of the current minimum, including its depth, its extended duration, its weak polar magnetic fields, and its small amount of open flux. Flux-transport simulations suggest that these characteristics are a consequence of temporal variations of the Sun's large-scale meridional circulation. They also raise the question of whether the next sunspot maximum may be a relatively small one.
Sponsored by: Department of Physics
and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland. For information
call Debbie Jenkins at (301) 405-4780 or go to the UMD Space Physics group seminar web site.
For free parking please park in lot DD or anywhere on levels 1-2 in lot B (the big parking garage) after 4:00 pm.
Make sure that you park in a spot WITHOUT a parking meter. More parking information is at the seminar website.