The observed persistence of specific periodicities detected in time series associated with solar surface magnetic activity over several solar cycles has led to numerous papers supporting the existence of preferred longitudes. Recent analysis of the past 120 years of sunspot number data showed that no observed periodicity remained coherent for durations greater than two 11-year solar cycles. Her...

We consider the statistical relationship between the growth rate of activity in the early phase of a solar cycle with its subsequent amplitude on the basis of four datasets of global activity indices (Wolf sunspot number, group sunspot number, sunspot area, and 10.7-cm radio flux). In all cases, a significant correlation is found: stronger cycles tend to rise faster. Owing to the overlapping of...

The satellite total solar irradiance (TSI) database provides a valuable record for investigating models of solar variation used to interpret climate changes. The 35year ACRIM total solar irradiance (TSI) satellite composite time series has been revised using algorithm updates based on 13 years of accumulated mission experience and corrections to ACRIMSAT/ACRIM3 results for scattering and diffra...

How—indeed whether—the Sun’s variable energy outputs influence Earth’s climate has engaged scientific curiosity for more than a century. Early evidence accrued from correlations of assorted solar and climate indices, and from recognition that cycles near 11, 88 and 205 years are common in both the Sun and climate.1,2 But until recently, an influence of solar variability on climate, whether thro...

Solar wind variability spans a wide range of amplitudes and timescales, from turbulent fluctuations to the 11 year solar cycle. We apply the data quantile-quantile (DQQ) method to NASA/Wind observations spanning solar cycles 23 and 24, to study how the uniqueness of each cycle maximum and minimummanifests in the changing statistical distribution of plasma parameters in fast and slow solar wind....