Senior Links Sun, Cyclones

The Stanford University Solar-Terrestrial Physics Group recently confirmed a Harvard undergraduate's discovery correlating characteristics of the solar magnetic field and terrestrial weather, John M. Wilcox, chairman of the group said yesterday.

Philip B. Duffy '78 said yesterday he "found a relationship between the size of a cyclone and the polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field on the day the cyclone is formed," during research on winter cyclones in the Gulf of Alaska conducted last summer at Stanford.

Wilcox said, "I think it is a very important and interesting discovery," which could lead to an improvement in weather forecasting because it appears the sun has an influence on the size of cyclones.

Wilcox said the solar magnetic field is carried to earth by the solar wind in four days. "The four day transit time could be used to warn of possible cyclones," Wilcox said.

Duffy said his findings, based on observations and computer analysis, indicate that the size of the cyclone is affected by the direction of the magnetic field once it reaches the earth. If the direction of the field is away from the sun the cyclone tends to be larger, he said.

Duffy said yesterday scientists still do not understand the physical processes that cause the correlation. The Stanford group will probably continue research without him, he added. Peter J. Foukal, research associate in the Harvard College Observatory and lecturer on Astronomy, said yesterday the discovery "is significant as it is one of a set of statistical results which is forcing people to think of a mechanism which might cause such a correlation.