Solar Flip-Flop Ahead!

NASA image

The sun's magnetic field is in the process of reversing itself, and NASA Science News says scientists monitoring the activity say they expect the reversal to be complete by the end of this year. This flip of magnetic polarity on the sun marks the peak of each solar cycle, so conventional wisdom says we are now at solar max for Cycle 24. However, some scientists are predicting a double-peak, as we saw with Cycle 23, because the sun's hemispheres are not in synch with each other. According to this report, the sun's north pole has already reversed polarity and the south pole "is racing to catch up." This could lead to a second sunspot peak in the 2014-15 time frame. For more details, see <http://1.usa.gov/15BhcAW>.