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Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
Fig. 6 | Progress in Earth and Planetary Science

Fig. 6

From: Solar evolution and extrema: current state of understanding of long-term solar variability and its planetary impacts

Fig. 6

Solar activity reconstruction over the past 3000 years shows a few extreme activity phases during which the sunspot cycle amplitudes persistently exceed (grand maxima) or fall below (grand minima) the typical activity levels (denoted within the two dashed lines). Following the Maunder minimum (1645–1715) and Dalton minimum (1790–1830), a growth in general activity levels resulted in the modern maximum. Solar cycle 24 however was very weak and cycle 25 is expected to be a below average cycle too. Further in the past, other grand maxima and minima episodes are observed indicating extreme activity levels have occurred over the recent history with no apparent regularity. Adapted from Usoskin et al. (2014)

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