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Sunspots in Cycle 25? K9LA says
expect some, but not as many as
during the current cycle.
(National Weather Service photo) |
Propagation expert Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, told a webinar
in August that "we are headed for
some small (solar) cycles," but he
says data no longer support predictions of another "Maunder Minimum"
with few to no sunspots at all. "There seems to be a good
correlation," Luetzelschwab told a World Wide Radio Operators Foundation
webinar, between how long a solar minimum is and the next solar cycle. The
longer you spend at solar minimum, the smaller the next cycle." He said he
expects the current cycle (24) to bottom out in 2020, but added that the
downward trend of disappearing sunspots appears to have leveled off. This, he
suggested, likely means that Cycle 25 will be weaker than the current one but
will not be absent as some experts have predicted.
