Aurora Observations from the Principality of Transylvania from the 16th to the 18th Century CE

Stangl, Martin; Foelsche, Ulrich

doi:10.1007/s11207-021-01811-7

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This is because Rethly & Berkes (1963) explicitly confirmed probable contaminations of different phenomena in their auroral catalog. Thus, we should be slightly cautious about the homogeneity of these Hungarian auroral data sets, as suggested in Stangl & Foelsche (2021).…”

Section: Solar Activity In Solar Cycles −3 and −4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Solar Activity after the Maunder Minimum: Sunspot Records by Rost and Alischer

Carrasco,

Aparicio,

Chatzistergos

et al. 2024

ApJ

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The Maunder Minimum was a period with significantly reduced solar activity between 1645 and 1715, approximately. The transition between the low solar activity in the Maunder Minimum and the subsequent “normal” regime of solar activity was gradual. However, there are discrepancies in the solar activity level from sunspot number indices and solar activity proxies in that period. Among the contemporaneous observers, Johann L. Rost and Sebastian Alischer were two key sunspot observers to understand the solar activity in this transition just after the Maunder Minimum. We have revised all their sunspot records, counting the number of groups and individual sunspots to derive reliable data for the solar activity level for the period 1716–1726. We found significant misinterpretations of the sunspot group counting assigned to these astronomers in the existing group number databases. Our new group sunspot counting significantly reduces the number of groups for Rost and Alischer’s observations compared to entries in existing databases. Furthermore, our sunspot number estimates (obtained from the active day fraction methodology) of the maximum amplitude of Solar Cycles −3 and −4 are significantly lower than the amplitudes according to the official sunspot number, but they are compatible with sunspot number values obtained from solar activity proxies such as radioisotopes. Our result would imply that solar activity after the Maunder Minimum recovered more gradually and with a lower intensity than previously considered.

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Section: Solar Activity In Solar Cycles −3 and −4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Solar Activity after the Maunder Minimum: Sunspot Records by Rost and Alischer

Carrasco,

Aparicio,

Chatzistergos

et al. 2024

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While this finding does not immediately reject the probable auroral nature of this event, it is no longer supported by simultaneous observations and can no longer serve as incontrovertible evidence of an intense geomagnetic storm in the Maunder Minimum. Still, even after the review by Miyake et al (2019), candidate auroral records have been analyzed in historical records in Transylvania (Stangl and Foelsche 2021), Germany (Hayakawa et al 2021b), and England (Simpson 2022). Further investigations of the candidate aurorae with simultaneous observations would be beneficial to understand the geomagnetic activity around the Maunder Minimum.…”

Section: Revised Timeline For Extreme Space Weather Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme Solar Events: Setting up a Paradigm

Usoskin,

Miyake,

Baroni

et al. 2023

Space Sci Rev

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The Sun is magnetically active and often produces eruptive events on different energetic and temporal scales. Until recently, the upper limit of such events was unknown and believed to be roughly represented by direct instrumental observations. However, two types of extreme events were discovered recently: extreme solar energetic particle events on the multi-millennial time scale and super-flares on sun-like stars. Both discoveries imply that the Sun might rarely produce events, called extreme solar events (ESE), whose energy could be orders of magnitude greater than anything we have observed during recent decades. During the years following these discoveries, great progress has been achieved in collecting observational evidence, uncovering new events, making statistical analyses, and developing theoretical modelling. The ESE paradigm lives and is being developed. On the other hand, many outstanding questions still remain open and new ones emerge. Here we present an overview of the current state of the art and the forming paradigm of ESE from different points of view: solar physics, stellar–solar projections, cosmogenic-isotope data, modelling, historical data, as well as terrestrial, technological and societal effects of ESEs. Special focus is paid to open questions and further developments. This review is based on the joint work of the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) team #510 (2020–2022).

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“…Results on historical records of solar activity from the same region have just been published in Solar Physics (Stangl and Foelsche, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate history of the principality of Transylvania during the Maunder Minimum (MM) years (1645–1715 CE)

Stangl

Foelsche

2021

Preprint

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Abstract. This paper deals with the climate in the former Grand Duchy of Transylvania, now one of the three major geographical provinces of Romania, within the so-called Maunder Minimum (MM) (1645–1715), an astrophysically defined part of the Little Ice Age (LIA), which was characterized by reduced solar activity. The historical data from Transylvania are compared with that from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This comparison for the period 1645–1715 shows good agreement but also reveals geographic characteristics of the region. For the first time, we present here a comparison between the four geographic areas in text and tabular form. Quotes from mostly German-language sources are reproduced in English translation. Furthermore, we examine for a longer period (1500–1950) the extent to which the climate of Transylvania might have been affected by long-term fluctuations in solar activity, as deduced from isotopic reconstructions from ice cores. This comparison suggests a certain solar influence but the agreement is not very pronounced. Future investigation in a pan-European context is needed to reach reliable statements. Some results are unexpected – like an unusually small number of severe winters during the last decades of the MM, where extreme cold was restricted to a few years, like the extreme winters 1699/1700 and 1708/1709.

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Aurora Observations from the Principality of Transylvania from the 16th to the 18th Century CE

Cited by 8 publications

References 8 publications

Understanding Solar Activity after the Maunder Minimum: Sunspot Records by Rost and Alischer

Understanding Solar Activity after the Maunder Minimum: Sunspot Records by Rost and Alischer

Extreme Solar Events: Setting up a Paradigm

Climate history of the principality of Transylvania during the Maunder Minimum (MM) years (1645–1715 CE)

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