Astronomers have discovered a new correlation using 100 years of solar data from the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, which will help predict the strength of an upcoming solar cycle maximum as well as help in space weather forecasting. The publicly available data from the observatory (which is celebrating 125 years this year) with a span of more than nine solar cycles, each cycle extending for about 11 years, was used to detect the large-sized (30,000 km) convective patterns called supergranulations on the visible surface of the sun. The analysis shows that these supergranular lane widths were positively correlated with the sunspot number.

Press release published here.

Download the paper from here.