Variations in sunspot structure and climate

✍ Scribed by Douglas V. Hoyt

• Book ID: 104637405
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 798 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0165-0009
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00138229

✦ Synopsis

Sunspot structure is measured by taking the ratio of the area of the umbra to that of the penumbra. The time dependence of this umbral/penumbral ratio is remarkably similar to the record of the Northern Hemisphere surface temperature anomalies. On a year-to-year basis the correlation is 0.57~ which is significant at better than the 0.01% level. It is postulated that a change in the umbral/penumbral ratio is proportional to a change in the solar luminosity and that long-term variations in the luminosity lead to corresponding changes in the climate of the Earth.