What is the relationship between sunspots and electrical disturbances?

Answer 1

Sunspots are regions of high physical and magnetic turbulence on the Sun. They increase and decrease in number during an 11-year solar sunspot cycle, but variations within the cycle mean it isn't always just a smooth up and down graph.

From the sunspots large amounts of radiation and matter can be thrown around and some of the radiation can cause electrical and magnetic disturbances in the upper atmosphere or even on the Earth itself. During high sunspot activity the general level of solar surface and coronal activity is also high, with more flares and prominences which also areas of great disturbances.

Flares are huge disturbances on the Sun which can throw out massive amounts of radiation and mass in what are known as CME's, or Coronal Mass Ejections, and they can have a big effect on Earth.

Large disturbances on Earth from solar storms are called geomagnetic storms can knock out entire electrical networks as has happened in Canada and the northern states of the USA before.

For the last two years the Sun has been unusually quiet, meaning very few sunspots have been seen and therefore fewer magnetic disturbances have happened, including the disappearance of the Northern Lights for almost the entire period but there are a few sunspots visible now and an occasional aurora has been seen since last December.

Answer 2

it dissapears