A paper was published today in Science by a team from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Chiba University in Japan, and the University of Tokyo. It is titled "Large-scale magnetic fields at high Reynolds numbers in magnetohydrodynamic simulations."
Fan and Fang's recent publication shows significant advances in global-scale fully dynamic 3D convective dynamo simulations of the solar convective envelope. These simulations demonstrate the role magnetic field plays in the self-consistent maintenance of the solar differential rotation.
What might happen to the well-known 11-year solar cycle if the Sun were spun up to rotate more than two times faster? To investigate such questions of the dependence of the Sun's internal dynamo on parameters such as rotation we must look to other stars with different physical conditions.
In a recent AGU editor's Vox Discussion, Delores Knipp explores the societal impacts of geomagnetically induced currents (GICs). GICs can cause voltage swings, transformer heating, and reactive power loss in high-voltage power transmission systems.
Three hundred years ago, the Sun began to wake up. For 70 years—from about 1645 to 1715—the Sun had been eerily quiet, with very few sunspots erupting on its surface.
