Abstract
Solar cycles display roughly 11-year periodicities driven by the solar magnetic dynamo. This study presents a comparative analysis of solar flare activity, sunspot number progression, and geomagnetic responses between Solar Cycle 24 (SC24: 2008–2019) and Solar Cycle 25 (SC25: 2019–present). Solar Cycle 24 was characterized as a weak cycle, displaying a double-peaked sunspot maximum (peak smoothed sunspot number Rz ≈ 116.4) and low overall eruptive productivity. In contrast, Solar Cycle 25 has exceeded initial prediction models, showing rapid magnetic flux emergence and high flare productivity during its maximum phase. Using solar soft X-ray (SXR) flux data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) network and solar wind/geomagnetic indices (Dst and Kp), we evaluate flare frequency distributions and active region magnetic topologies (βγδ). While SC24 produced isolated extreme events such as the X9.3 flare of September 6, 2017, SC25 exhibits a higher occurrence rate of M- and X-class flares along with intense geo effective storms (e.g., May 2024). The space weather implications of these variations are discussed in relation to ionosphere perturbations, Total Electron Content (TEC) fluctuations, and radio communication blackouts.
KEYWORDS
Solar Flare, Sunspot Number, Solar Cycle 25, Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), Geomagnetic Activity, Space Weather.
A. K. Pandey1*, J. D. Prajapati2
1Research Scholar, Department of Physics, APS University Rewa-486003, M.P., India
2Assistant Professor, Govt Model Science College Rewa-486001, M.P., India