Further Evidence That the Orbital Periods of the Planets Determine the Timing for Solar Maxima and Minima.

     Figure 2a shows the position angle of Jupiter measured from the alignment axis of the superior conjunction of Venus and Earth plotted against the position angle of Jupiter measured from the alignment axis of the inferior conjunction of Venus and Earth. The inferior and superior conjunctions chosen as the x,y coordinates for each point in this graph are those that are closest to a given solar maximum, for all solar maxima since 1700 A.D. The dates of solar maxima that are used are those published by Usoskin and Mursala (2003).

     Figure 2b shows the corresponding plot for position angles of Jupiter at the superior and inferior conjunctions closest to each of the solar minima since 1700 A.D. Again, the dates of solar minima are those published by Usoskin and Mursala (2003). In both figure 2a and figure 2b, symbols have been used to segregate the points into the 14 even and 14 odd numbered solar sunspot cycles.

A comparison between figure 2a and 2b shows that there is a marked segregation between the position angles of Jupiter at solar maximum compared to solar minimum. When Venus and the Earth are at inferior conjunction, at a given solar maximum, the position angle of Jupiter either lies between 60O and 90O or 0O and 30O, and when Venus and the Earth are at superior  conjunction, for the same solar maximum, the position angle of Jupiter is the complement of that angle. This is in marked contrast with the situation at solar minimum when the position angles of Jupiter lie almost exclusively between 30O and 60O for both inferior and superior conjunctions of Venus and the Earth.

     What is even more remarkable, however, is the complete separation between the odd and even cycles at solar maximum that can be seen in figure 2a. This means that Jupiter's position angle, at the time of alignments of Venus, Earth and the Sun, are completely different for even solar maxima than they are for odd solar maxima. Figure 3a shows Jupiter's position for inferior and superior conjunctions of Venus and the Earth, at times of even numbered solar maxima, while figure 3b shows Jupiter's position at the times of odd numbered solar maxima.

Reference:

Wilson, I.R.G., 2011, Do Periodic peaks in the Planetary Tidal 

Forces Acting Upon the Sun Influence the Sunspot Cycle? 

The General Science Journal, Dec 2011, 3812.

http://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Essays/View/3812

[Note: This paper was actually written by October-November 2007 and submitted to the New Astronomy (peer-reviewed) Journal in early 2008 where it was rejected for publication. It was resubmitted to the (peer-reviewed) PASP Journal in 2009 where it was again rejected. The paper was eventually published in the (non-peer reviewed) General Science Journal in 2010.]

The Dec-January-February Zonal N=4 Standing Wave in the SST and MSLP Anomalies of the Southern Hemisphere are Back!

Nikolay Sidorenkov and I published a paper in 2013 that showed that a zonal N=4 standing wave-like pattern appears in the December-January-February Sea-Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies and Mean Sea-Level Pressure (MSLP) anomalies found in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.

Figure 1

These SST anomalies are produced by the periodic reinforcement of the four semi-permanent high pressure cells that are located in the Southern Hemisphere's Sub-Tropical High Pressure Ridge, as shown in figure 1. The standing wave pattern reappears roughly once every 8 - 9 years in parallel sequences that are shifted with respect to each other by ~ 3 years.

Figure 2 shows the zonal pressure anomaly profiles for some of the more prominent zonal N=4 standing wave-like patterns between 1976 and 2010.


Figure 2.

Columns A and B of table 1 below identify all of the major zonal N=4 standing wave-like events since 1947. with the last two being in 2007 and 2010.

If the observed periodicity were to continue, you would expect to see the N=4 standing wave pattern in the SST and MSLP anomalies to re-emerge in months of December-January-February 2014-15 and 2017-18. It now appears that this is indeed the case.

Here it is in mid-January 2015:

and it is just starting to appear (roughly 3 years later) in December 2017:

The zonal N=4 standing wave-like pattern in the MSLP anomaly is being produced by lunar-induced atmospheric tides that circle the Earth roughly once every 18 years. These tides periodically re-enforce the strength of the four semi-permanent high pressure cells in the sub-tropical high pressure ridge (during the Southern Summer months of December-January-February) that produce localized heating of the SST's on their western sides. The semi=permanent pressure cells are normally located over NZ, and the eastern South Indian, South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans.

Here we have proof of the effect of astronomical influences (in this case the lunar atmospheric tides) upon the Earth's climate.

UPDATE: 19/12/2017

SST Anomaly 19/12/2017 showing the prominent N=4 standing-wave like pattern. Four "H" symbols are superimposed on this plot to show the location of the enhanced semi-permanent high pressure cells in the Southern Sub-Tropical High Pressure Ridge.