Prediction of sunspot and plage coverage for Solar Cycle 25

TL;DR

This paper predicts that Solar Cycle 25 will peak around 2024, lasting about 12 years, with sunspot and plage coverage similar or slightly higher than the previous cycle, using over a century of solar activity data.

Contribution

Introduces a new prediction method based on over 100 years of sunspot and plage area measurements, improving solar cycle forecasting accuracy.

Findings

Cycle 25 expected to peak in 2024

Cycle 25 will last about 12 years

Cycle 25's activity similar or slightly higher than cycle 24

Abstract

Solar variability occurs over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales, from the Sun's brightening over its lifetime to the fluctuations commonly associated with magnetic activity over minutes to years. The latter activity includes most prominently the 11-year sunspot solar cycle and its modulations. Space weather events, in the form of solar flares, solar energetic particles, coronal mass ejections, and geomagnetic storms, have long been known to approximately follow the solar cycle occurring more frequently at solar maximum than solar minimum. These events can significantly impact our advanced technologies and critical infrastructures, making the prediction for the strength of future solar cycles particularly important. Several methods have been proposed to predict the strength of the next solar cycle, cycle 25, with results that are generally not always consistent. Most of these methods are based on the international sunspot number time series, or other indicators of solar activity. We present here a new approach that uses more than 100 years of measured fractional areas of the visible solar disk covered by sunspots and plages and an empirical relationship for each of these two indices of solar activity in even-odd cycles. We anticipate that cycle 25 will peak in 2024 and will last for about 12 years, slightly longer than cycle 24. We also found that, in terms of sunspot and plage areas coverage, the amplitude of cycle 25 will be substantially similar or slightly higher than cycle 24.