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Eleven-Year Cycle of Solar Magnetic Activity: Observations, Theories, and Numerical Model Predictions

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Solar-Terrestrial Environmental Prediction

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Abstract

The record of sunspot observations spans 400 years and shows an 11-year solar activity cycle. How the Sun generates magnetic fields to produce sunspots cyclically is attributed to the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) dynamo theory, which was initiated in the 1950s as semi-analytical models and is now the subject of supercomputer simulations. The amplitude of 11-year cycles varies from cycle to cycle, and occasionally a drastic reduction in amplitude is observed, for example, the Maunder Minimum in the seventeenth century. The prediction of the amplitude of the forthcoming cycle has been done mostly empirically in the past, but this topic was also studied recently by numerical simulations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solar Science Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan

    Takashi Sakurai

  2. Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

    Hideyuki Hotta

  3. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Shinsuke Imada

Authors
  1. Takashi Sakurai
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  2. Hideyuki Hotta
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  3. Shinsuke Imada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takashi Sakurai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

    Kanya Kusano

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Sakurai, T., Hotta, H., Imada, S. (2023). Eleven-Year Cycle of Solar Magnetic Activity: Observations, Theories, and Numerical Model Predictions. In: Kusano, K. (eds) Solar-Terrestrial Environmental Prediction. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7765-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7765-7_12

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