Sun Spot Analysis

Activity and Starting Point page by R.M. MacKay. Clark College, Physics and Meteorology.

This material was originally created for Starting Point:Introductory Geology
and is replicated here as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service.

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Initial Publication Date: May 11, 2005

Summary

Introductory students use Excel to graph monthly mean Greenwich sunspot numbers from 1749 to 2004 and perform a spectral analysis of the data using the free software program "Spectra". Short answer and thought questions related to the graphical data are asked throughout the assignment.

Solar and terrestrial radiation, Astronomy | College Introductory

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Learning Goals

Learn about the past sunspot record.
Graph monthly mean Greenwich sunspot numbers from 1749 to 2004.
Read the graph and answer questions related to the graphical data.
Learn how to download and install the Spectra software program
Perform a Fourier analysis on the monthly mean sunspot record using the Spectra Program.
Learn about Fourier frequency analysis
Use the relation between frequency and period of a component of the signal.

Context for Use

This activity is useful in any introductory geoscience course in which a discussion of the solar cycle is appropriate or in which an introductory exposure to Fourier spectral analysis is desired.

Description and Teaching Materials

The assignment in a form that can be printed and handed out to students is:

Sunspot Assignment in PDF format (Acrobat (PDF) 211kB Aug27 04)
Sunspot Assignment in MS Word format (Microsoft Word 124kB Aug27 04)for possible editing.

Teaching Notes and Tips

The activity takes approximately 3 hours to complete. Omitting the last part on spectral analysis would likely make it a 2-hour activity.
Little background mathematics is required for this activity.
Students should be familiar with using Excel to make an X-Y graph and with the concept of period and frequency of a sinusoidal signal.
For students needing a refresher on using Excel Graphing with Excel (more info) can help refresh them.
More information on related to using Excel and related links can be found at How to use Excel

The two graphs above show essentially the same thing. The graph on the right was made with Excel by importing the Text frequency data from the Text output Window of Spectra. The Spectra program does not allow you to alter the horizontal axis. We did not ask students to do this step in the assignment since they can read the numerical values from the graph or from the table, but you may want to use these two figures in a follow-up discussion.

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Assessment

The successful completion of this activity and evaluation of their results are good measures of student comprehension. Follow-up discussions in class, essay questions on exams, and the future success of students on other related activities are also useful measures of student understanding.

References and Resources

Sunspot numbers from 1749 to 2004 from NASA MSFC archive.
- January 1749 through July 2004 Greenwich Sunspot numbers ( 41kB Aug27 04) vs time of the above file for input into Excel for easy graphing.
- January 1749 through July 2004 Greenwich Sunspot numbers ( 17kB Aug27 04) single column file of above file for input into "Spectra" program.
The Sunspot Cycle (more info) from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center gives a good overview of sunspots with links to sunspot data and other related resources like this link to the Greenwich Royal Observatory.
Spaceweather archive gives some background information related to sunspots, has a JAVA plotter for plotting different 11 year periods, and has a link to the above data and more Greenwich sunspot data and information.
Spectra is a free spectral analysis package. It's easy to download and easy to use.
Fourier Spectral Analysis provides links to information related to the spectral analysis part of this activity.
A Simple Analysis of Historical Sunspot Data describes a similar analysis with Mathematica.