General questions/prompts:
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What do you think this graph shows us?
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What does this graph make you wonder?
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Does any part of this graph surprise you?
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How would you describe the relationship between the different variables involved?
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What title would you give this graph?
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Can you think of any further questions or future investigations? How would you go about getting the data you need for answers?
Specific questions/prompts:
The solar flare index is a measure of the sun's solar flare intensity.
Image 1: Graph showing solar activity over ~40 year period
What do you notice about solar flare activity over time?
How many years does a typical cycle take?
Is the pattern changing at all?
Compare the northern (blue line) and southern (red line) hemispheres
How do you think scientists got this data?
Image 2: Solar storm formation
Most particles thrown out by the sun follow a path that leads them to the Earth's poles - why do you think this is?
Do you think solar activity is always this predictable?
Image 3: Impact scale
Sometimes solar flares are part of a solar magnetic storm known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). These can send out many times more energy than a solar flare - enough to cause damage to electronics and communications on Earth
Image 4: Graph of Earth’s average solar activity against average temperature
What appears to be the relationship between solar irradiance and Earth's temperature from 1880 to about 1955?
What appears to be the relationship between solar irradiance and Earth's temperature from 1955 to about 2020?
The Earth's temperature has been rising since the Industrial Revolution. Does this graph support an argument that the sun is the cause?
If temperature usually falls when solar activity decreases, why hasn't the temperature fallen since 1950?
The solar flare index is a measurement of solar flare activity on the sun. Solar flares are the most energetic explosions in the solar system. A solar flare is a sudden release of energy stored in the magnetic fields around sunspots, involving sudden bursts of particle acceleration, plasma heating, and the movement of mass. It can be observed from earth using special equipment as a sudden, rapid, and intense increase in brightness in the solar atmosphere, and they can have a direct effect on the Earth's atmosphere.
The Earth's upper atmosphere becomes more ionized and expands. Long distance radio signals can be disrupted by the resulting change in the Earth's ionosphere. A satellite's orbit around the Earth can be disturbed by the enhanced drag on the satellite from the expanded atmosphere. Satellite's electronic components can be damaged. So a flare index is needed to study all the probable solar activities which affect our satellite environment and Earth atmosphere.