Solar Tsunami Can Trigger the Sunspot Cycle

• A group of solar physicists recently suggested that the “solar dynamo” is linked to the production of sunspots.
• However, what kick-starts the 11-year sunspot cycle is not known. According to them, a “solar tsunami” is at work that triggers the new sunspot cycle, after the old one ends.

What is Solar Tsunami?

• A Moreton wave or Moreton-Ramsey wave is the chromospheric signature of a large-scale solar coronal shock wave. They are described as a kind of solar “tsunami” as they are generated by solar flares.
• They are named after American astronomer Gail Moreton, an observer at the Lockheed Solar Observatory in Burbank, ....