Sunspot activity has shown an increase since the long quiet spell of July-September 2009 (51 days in a row with a blank solar surface), but it’s certainly nothing to crow about just yet.
A pronounced sunspot group helped push the solar 10.7cm radio flux to its highest level in 18 months in late September; since then, a 19-day blank streak resumed the march of sunspot-less days which now ranks 6th for any year since 1900.
A weak sunspot briefly formed for only a matter of hours on October 21st ; but there’s an indication of another very minimal one forming.
None of these events signal any type of dramatic uptrend in solar activity; in fact, the sun was far more active as to sunspot counts in October 2008 than observed thus far in October 2009 (thru Oct 21).
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As I have stated in numerous previous sunspot posts, trends make or break either an ending or continuance of this deep solar minimum.
The radio flux “spike” in late September was significant, but until the overall solar flux and sunspot activity holds a consistent trend for a few months, we are still placed in the position of “hide and watch”.
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examiner.com
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