AP Photo / Winfried Rothermel
Historic windmill water dripping directly frozen in Furtwangen, Black Forest, southwest Germany, Monday (12 / 1). Although the weather was warmer than a few days earlier, in the night air still very cold.
Extreme cold weather hit the high latitude regions of Earth. This phenomenon, among others, caused by prolonged sun bed. The impact due to heavy exacerbated by a warming Earth and global climate change.

Since December last, extreme temperatures continue to hit northern latitude region, ie starting from the Americas, Europe, to Asia. In Europe, the cold temperatures last month had reached minus 16 degrees celsius in Russia and minus 22 degrees Celsius in Germany. For England, these extreme temperatures the coldest in 30 years. Transportation routes to France paralyzed.

United States was experiencing the same thing. Invasion of this extreme weather affects crop failures in Florida and caused two people died in New York.

Extraordinary incident which is believed to be the global scale of meteorological and astronomical observers associated with the weakening condition of the Sun's activity is marked by decreasing incidence sunspots or sunspot.

Black spots appear on the surface of the Sun through binoculars when viewed from the side like a milestone that comes from the surface of the Sun. Milestones that occur due to the magnetic mass in berpusarnya belly up through the surface of the Sun.

Due to the emergence of black spots of about 32,000 kilometers in diameter or 2.5 times the average diameter of Earth, the gas temperature in the photosphere and kromosfer up around 800 degrees Celsius than normal. This can lead to solar storms and explosions of light called a flare.

However, what happened the last few years is the sun off. The reduced activity of the Sun was based on observation Yono Yatini Clara, Head of Solar and Space Institute of Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), began to appear since 2000.

The solar astrophysicist at the mention of 2008 as the year with days without sunspots belonging to the lowest in the last 50 years. They estimate several years after 2008 will be the years of cold, said Mezak Ratag, the astrophysicist who pioneered the establishment of Earth and Space Science Institute in Manado, North Sulawesi.

Measurement of magnetic field strength in sunspots last 20 years at Kitt Peak Observatory, Arizona showing a decline. The maximum magnetic field from an average of 3000 Gauss in the early 1990s down to about 2000 Gauss at the moment.

This significant decrease is evidence that until some future time the sun is still going on the state of lazy, Mezak said. He predicts that the maximum activity occurs around the year 2013, the rate will not be as high as the maximum in the last few cycles.

The sun and climate

As the sun dimmed prolonged, potentially extreme winter because the Sun-source of energy for the environment, the solar system is moving in the Earth's climate machine.

Since 1865, data showed a tendency Lapan rainfall decreases as the Sun quietly. Similarly, severe winter since the end of 2009 occurred when the Sun is very quiet (deep minimum) similar events 1995-1996, explained Thomas Djamaluddin, Head Utilization Center for Atmospheric and Climate Science Lapan.

Evidence of association with the Sun's behavior is indicated by the opposite phenomenon, namely minimal snow winter when the Sun is active in the year 1989. Very long winter occurs when the Maunder Minimum of 1645-1716 and the Dalton minimum the early 1980s.

Similar conditions occurred in 1910-1914. That much is associated with the cold sea in the sinking of the Titanic disaster in April 1912. Normally, when it was spring.

Meanwhile, Mezak argues, the minimum pattern of activity when the Sun is similar to the events of 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1910. Thus, the cycle of the Sun not only showed an eleven-year cycle. There is a longer cycle with a period of about 100 years-Gleisberg cycle. In the meteorological records, during the cycle, a lot of extreme cold weather, but not extreme Maunder Minimum.

Weather and Grk

Solar activity minimum effect more influenced high latitude regions. Solar activity since about the year 2007 up to now increase the odds of a large temperature gradient between the high latitude and low latitude. As a result, the wind velocity component north-south direction (Meridional) high.

Prof. CP Chang, who chaired the Executive Panel monsoon World Meteorological (WMO), concluded, monsoon activity across the equator which triggered a large temperature gradient in the north-south direction recently increased significantly compared to the last 50 years statistics.

This strengthens allegations, Solar activity minimum length is closely related to extreme cold weather. In Indonesia, the incidence of high winds across the equator into the main causes of the emergence of high waves of the South China Sea into waters of the Java Sea.

The existence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, continued Thomas, also increase the air temperature that cause climate change. Combined effect tends to increase vulnerability to climate-related disasters, said Thomas.

Global warming theory says, the atmosphere is heated to make the particles of air become more energetic and potentially result in extreme weather. (YUNI Ikawati)

source:
Kompas.com