A new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has revealed that the sun's seasonal changes have an impact on the Earth.

According to researchers, the sun undergoes a type of seasonal variability with its activity waxing and waning over the course of nearly two years. This leads to sometimes amplification and sometimes weakening of the solar storms that can buffet the Earth's atmosphere.

The seasonal variations come from changes in the bands of strong magnetic fields in each solar hemisphere. These bands also help to shape the approximately 11-year solar cycle that lasts about 22 years.

According to observations by the research team, the overlapping bands are intensified by the rotation of the Sun's deep interior.

The activity rises to a peak over a period of about 11 months and then begins to wane as the bands move within the Sun's northern and southern hemispheres.

The research team led by Scott McIntosh, director of the NCAR's high altitude observatory detected the twisted, ring-shaped bands by NASA satellites and ground-based observatories.

These objects gathered information on the structure of the Sun and the nature of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

McIntosh said, "What we're looking at here is a massive driver of solar storms. By better understanding how these activity bands form in the Sun and cause seasonal instabilities, there's the potential to greatly improve forecasts of space weather events".

In order to learn more about the profound influence of the bands on solar activity, researchers can turn to advanced computer simulations and more detailed observations.

These findings would help them to predict massive geomagnetic storms in Earth's outer atmosphere that sometimes disrupt satellite operations, communications, power grids, and other technologies. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.