Solar Cycles and August 2010 Scientific American letter to the editors

I am an avid Scientific American reader, and respect that of late the magazine has become more balanced in coverage of scientific debate. Theory and research are not to be blindly accepted and in this vein of thought, I would like to point out that your article An Extra Quiet Sun may be related to another article, Threatening Ocean Life from the Inside Out.


A graph on page 69 shows measured pH from 1991 through 2006. I think that the sample period is interesting. http://wso.stanford.edu/gifs/Tilts.gif shows this to be a period encompassing 2 solar maximum when lower frequencies, deeper penetrating solar radiation may be a factor. Further, the graph on page 69 seems to confirm that during the solar minimum, pH declined at higher sea elevations.

I would love to see these results over a 22 year period, adding 2006-2012. My prediction as a lay person is that pH balances over that period with a slight time offset due to the lifecycles of various ocean life and heat accumulation/dissipation.

Further, the article An Extra Quiet Sun pronounced that 2008 was the solar minimum which may be an false proclamation. http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_predict_l.gif shows that we reached solar minimum in late 2009.