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Paper: Is Solar Activity Once More Fainting?
Volume: 472, New Quests in Stellar Astrophysics III: A Panchromatic View of Solar-like Stars, With and Without Planets
Page: 273
Authors: Mares Aguilar, C. E.; Schröder, K.-P.; Song, G.
Abstract: After an anomalously long and deep minimum, will the Sun now once again reach a period of weaker activity cycles, which would affect northern hemisphere winter climate? We here discuss the current state and outlook of solar activity, and we propose to monitor the solar Ca II K line emission “as a star”, as part of the regular observing schedule of the Hamburg robotic telescope, which is bound to move to Guanajuato this year (2012). In fact, the chromospheric Ca II K line emission is a good proxy for the solar far-ultraviolet flux, as both are generated at about the same plasma temperatures (12–15,000 K) and both originate from the same active regions (plages). The solar ultraviolet flux, in turn, warms the stratosphere by photo dissociation of ozone and other molecules and, consequently, affects the strength of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NOA).
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