Types of Sunspot Cycles

Types of Sunspot Cycles?

Introduction

I have yet to see sunspot cycles classified. From the work I did with the LOESS manipulation of sunspot data it is evident that at least two type of sunspot cycles exist. There are sunspot cycles with a single peak and there are sunspot cycles with double peaks, almost like the humps of camels. The D-type sunspots, with a single hump, are the most common kind, and there are, to date, also a few examples of a B-type, double peaked, or hump sunspot cycles.   So I will use the zoological terms to classify camels, Dromedary - one peaked sunspot  cycle and Bactrian - double peaked sunspot cycle.

Dromedary Sunspot Cycle

Figure 1 - Typical Dromedary type sunspot cycle

Figure 1 which shows a plot of the curve fitted to sunspot cycle 21 is an example of the most common type of Dromedary curve fitted to sunspot observation data.

Bactrian Sunspot Cycle

Figure 2- Typical Bactrian type sunspot cycle

Figure 2 which shows a plot of the curve fitted to sunspot cycle 22 is an example of the rather more uncommon Bactrian curve fitted to sunspot observation data.

Discussion

It appears as if our current sunspot cycle 24 is also going to be a Bactrian type.