Download Naming the 2008-2009 Minimum and Responding to Temperature Declines

Naming the 2008-2009
Minimum and Responding
to Temperature Declines
Presented by James T. Struck, BA, BS, AA, MLIS.
A French American Museum of Chicago and
Dinosaurs, Trees, Religion and Galaxies Inc.
A French American Museum is a website 501 c3 tax deductible museum
established in Illinois in February 2006; we exist in the form of handouts,
posters, web sites and brochures. Feel free to send donations to the address
in the poster. Other directors are R. Szostek, Jane Frances Back Struck,
AA, my mother, and formerly M. A. Smith, BA. Email us at
[email protected], or you can write to A French
American Museum of Chicago 7333 N Ridge Blvd Chicago IL 60645.
France has a significant astronomical history from the Paris
Observatory, Messier’s Catalog, Laplace’s collision discussion and
discussion of the nebular hypothesis, Urbain Le Verrier’s discoveries
including the discovery of Neptune , the Observatory of Strasbourg,
what may have been an observatory at Karnak in earlier eras. A website
is at http://geocities/com/frenchamericanmuseum.
Presented in absentia because of limited resources while trying to
respond to Illinois guardians taking away the rights of persons with
differences and guardians and courts denying basic liberties such as
going to Planetariums, going to look at the sky, going home, denying
getting fresh air away from smoke, denying going to
museums/parks/zoos, denying reunions, denying reading books of
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choice, denying using phone, visitation, other rights. The SORCE
mission will help us understand these minimums and solar behavior a
little unlike ground based observatories as more UV light is reached.
There are UV changes which SORCE can help us understand.
We know of the Sporer Minimum, the Maunder Minimum and many
other names for periods of solar changes. This current Solar minimum
could get a name such as the minimum of the discoverer of the
phenomena, but leaving this minimum as the 2008-2009 minimum may
be more revealing by placing the minimum in a specific time in history.
From http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-atnasa/1999/ast16dec99_1/ –
“Where the sun could deal us a surprise is an event known as the
Maunder Minimum. During 1645-1715, the Northern Hemisphere was
locked in a "Little Ice Age." At the same time, no sunspots were
observed.
“Because astronomy was so primitive, that's about the limit of what we
know from then. It was even forgotten until 19th century English
astronomer E.W. Maunder investigated it in 1890. Other minima are
believed to have occurred, but sunspot records don't exist before 1610
(The effects of the Sporer Minimum, 1460-1550, can be seen early in
the movie "Orlando" with ice skating and even a full staged play on the
frozen Thames River). These studies depend on records (often spotty)
of auroral activities and of radioisotopes in ancient ice cores.
It also raises the question of whether a "Maunder Maximum" might be
possible.
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Left: As more than 300 years of observations show, the "constant" sun has
highly variable. Links to 497x375-pixel, 66KB JPG. Credit: NASA/Marshall.
"If we look at other stars, you can tell that they have sunspot cycles, too,"
Hathaway replied. While features on the stars themselves cannot be seen
(except in a few cases), starspots can be tracked as changes in emissions of
ionized calcium.
The name “2008-2009 Minimum” allows identification of the
minimum’s location in time. A Struck or Strakalaitis, my father’s
name which means jumping in Lithuanian, or Jane Frances Minimum,
after my mother who helped found A French American Museum of
Chicago, would not tell us where the minimum occurred in
chronological time, but the date tells us where the minimum occurred
so the future can know when the minimum occurred. My mother and I
played no role in the discovery of the 2008-2009 Minimum, so our
names logically should not be associated with the 2008-2009
Minimum. The Struck minimum or Strakalaitis Minimum would be
interesting, but I did not actually discover the minimum so the 20083
2009 Minimum does not take credit for other’s work. Unfortunately,
the actual discoverers feel just as left out and insulted possibly that
they did not get recognition for their discovery. (There actually was a
Rudkis who lived in Chicago during the era of the writing of Upton
Sinclair’s Jungle, so the history of discrimination against people is
based on actual people to some degree) The issue of discoverers
versus the time period in which the minimum occurred is significant.
The naming after my surname is designed to show the troubling and
disturbing nature of calling the minimum after the date- the actual
discoverers are left without some recognition and my chronological
naming idea is given some increased importance. What seems
uncontroversial, naming the 2008-2009 Minimum after a time period,
is highly controversial.
Responding to Temperature Declines
If solar radiation declines substantially, temperature declines may be
more severe than previously encountered. What if worldwide
temperatures were to fall to the point of worldwide negative
temperatures? We could live in housing, Universities, stores, buildings,
churches, if temperatures were to drop precipitously.
Churches, buildings and forests can be used to astronomy. Basilica of the
Sacred Heart, St. Peter's Cathedral, St. John the Divine, St. Patrick's
Cathedral, St. Daniel, St. William, Our Lady of Sorrows, St.
Hyacinth's/Alphonsus, St. Vincent De Paul Church, St. Therese, St.
Josaphat, houses of worship in Colorado, Brazil, China, Russia, Europe,
Africa, Latin America, Asia, synagogues,mosques, temples, St. Basil
Visitation, Queen of All Saints Basilica, National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception, St. Martin De Porres, Madonna Della Strada, St. Scholastica,
St. Adrian's, St. Nicholas, St. Thomas the Apostle, Rockefeller Chapel,St.
Norbert's, Our Lady of the Brook, other houses of worship can be used to
do astronomical observations.
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One can study or observe the color of the windows, chronology of light,
development of light, length of light rays, duration of light, intensity of
light, changes in light, fluctuations in light, color in the church or houses
of worship and learn about the Sun, moon, planets and stars. Basilicas,
churches and synagogues can be used to help us understand astronomy,
the sky and Universe besides helping us understand God. You know the
repairs the engineer does now; she or he will be in even more demand
come cold temperatures. When the world gets cold, churches will allow
us to do some astronomy inside buildings. UV light has a high degree of
energy. Someone could theorize that SORCE will help us understand
the effect of that energy on our lives and cold temperatures.
Clothes, heating sources become important responses to frost bite and
temperature declines. Solar minimums historically have been associated
with the freezing of rivers. From http://www.rivers.gov/waterfacts.html:
“These numbers were taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica and
tributaries were separated out with help from sources like Comptons
Encyclopedia and others.
Nile (Africa): 4,132 miles
Amazon (South America): 4,087 miles
Yangtze (Asia): 3,915 miles
Huang He, aka Yellow (Asia): 3,395
miles
Parana (South America): 3,032 miles
Congo (Africa):
2,900 miles
Amur (Asia): 2,761 miles
Lena (Asia): 2,734 miles
Mekong (Asia): 2,700 miles
Mackenzie (Canada): 2,635 miles
Niger (Africa): 2,600 miles
Yenisey (Russia): 2,543 miles
Missouri (United States): 2,540 miles
Mississippi (United
States): 2,340 miles
Ob (Russia): 2,268 miles
Zambezi (Africa):
2,200 miles
Volga (Europe): 2,193 miles
Purus (Brazil): 1,995
miles
Yukon (United States/Canada): 1,980 miles
Rio Grande
(United States/Mexico): 1,900 miles
St. Lawrence (United
States/Canada): 1,900 miles
Sao Francisco (Brazil): 1,811
miles
Brahmaputra (India): 1,800 miles
Indus (India): 1,800
miles
Danube (Europe): 1,770 miles”
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Think of the effect of freezing these long rivers worldwide. Could
fish adapt in some way? Notice nothing super long in France,
Belgium or Luxembourg?
There would be significant areas of the world frozen then. And some
of the world’s oceans would freeze as well with unclear effects. I
have seen the Seine River in Paris during a rare 2003 snowstorm.
There was some talk of a flood risk while there.
With severe decreases in temperature related to solar irradiation
declines, human beings may have to consider spending far more time
in heated environments, wearing more clothing, and adjustments to
travel. My mom Jane Frances was a fashion model so she used to
advertise some of the importance of clothes. Here I am advertising
that modeling takes on unique importance in responding to cold
temperatures-how do clothes that are able to respond to cold
temperatures look on people? We could model our responses to cold
temperatures. Does some of our clothes have any value in
responding? Does layering work to respond to cold temperatures?
Could our airplanes even fly if the temperature were 50 below? We
saw the Buffalo accident a few years ago; cold temperatures do affect
the airplane. How about food shipments? SORCE will allow us to
comprehend better more UV data in relation to temperature and other
variations.
If air temperatures substantially decline, there may be an effect on
plane safety. If water temperatures drop very much, there will be an
effect on nautical travel. Recall the Titanic accident. If the entire
ocean is frozen over, what good do boats do? The ocean, not
something near Nova Scotia or Halifax or Greenland would be frozen
over. I am not questioning warming data; I am just asking us to think
about responding to global freezing if the Sun ever went towards a
super minimum. Databases such as the Astrophysics Data System
may be accessed to determine how humanity responded to the Sporer
or Maunder Minimum periods. We know that Quakers and Shakers
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started quaking more around the Maunder Minimum, so some
associations are culturally positive. While we respond to cold
temperatures, we need to daily comprehend sunspot data and
temperature associations for the future. “The total energy emitted by
the Sun varies on an 11-year cycle. Even greater variation occurs at
shorter time scales as sunspot groups form and dissipate. At longer
time scales the Sun may undergo other cycles. By monitoring these
changes in the Sun, scientists hope to better understand its role in
changing the Earth’s climate. (Graph adapted from Goddard Institute
for Space Studies Data and Images: Solar Irradiance)” From
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/SORCE/
From this site and image, it appears that temperature maximums had
been happening every 10 years. Now though with 2008-2009, we
seem to have a minimum. There is a great deal of lack of
comprehension of possible extreme weather changes. If the world
ever became very cold, thinking about layering, clothes, buildings,
not flying, not boating, different clothes possibilities, travel changes
would help us understand life. Think about the foods you eat now.
How would you change your diet? How you would you respond to a
frozen river or ocean and how would a frozen ocean affect the Earth?
Such questions are just raised here leaving us with some issues to
contemplate. One of the mistakes we make in talking about the 11
year solar cycle is deemphasize significant variations from that
normal range. Solar radiation could radically decrease and solar
radiation could radically increase. SORCE will help us gain some
understanding of those processes in light of UV and other radiation.
All this talk of solar warming really does forget one important thingthe Sun is a variable star that could just as easily cool at some point. I
am not denying warming, I am just emphasizing the reality that our
Sun is a variable star like many stars are.
Some of this poster was constructed with the assistance of libraries
(Medical and General) at Northwestern University and University
of Chicago. I thank Northwestern University Libraries for their
assistance with this project.
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