UPDATE: Quadrupole now looking unlikely. (Aug 2012)

The sun has gone angry and is about to flip us off. That damn sun doesn't know what he is messing with. We humans have weapons of mass destruction. Hillary Clinton get the sun on the horn and tell him his days are numbered. We will get back to you Assado Mustado. This side of the universe is going to shit.

I would be worried it the Sun didn't behave normally. Transitioning from Dipolar to Quadrupolar back to Dipolar is how it works. It happens when the Sun reaches Solar Max, just like it's doing at present. Here is a thorough paper on it from 2002;
Observations of the Sun’s magnetic field during the recent solar maximum
[link to www.ias.fr]

"We show how this influenced the current sheet. At solar minimum, the Sun’s coronal magnetic field was essentially dipolar and aligned parallel to the spin axis. As a result, the heliospheric current sheet was flat and had very little warp. Around solar maximum, the dipole was perpendicular to the spin axis, and the ratio of quadrupole to dipole strength was high for much of the time. This meant that the current sheet was tilted and highly warped, and reached up to high latitudes. Surprisingly, there were also times close to solar maximum when the quadrupole/dipole ratio was low, and the current sheet was relatively flat, but still highly inclined. We apply for the first time to solar magnetic data a method, which quantitatively analyses the quadrupole component of the magnetic field..."

For those that like videos, there is this;

[link to video.godlikeproductions.com]
For those that like to read, here is another paper;
Dipole-Quadrupole dynamics during magnetic field reversals
[link to www.phys.ens.fr]

"In conclusion, we have used a simple method to extract the dipolar (antisymmetric) and quadrupolar (symmetric) components of the magnetic field in the VKS experiment. We have shown that this decomposition allows to investigate the morphology of the magnetic field during reversals, and to compare experimental results to the predictions of a recent model proposed in [11]. We have shown that the results of the VKS experiment are in very good agreement with these predictions:
- reversals are characterized by a strong transfer to the quadrupole when the dipole vanishes,
- the dipolar mode systematically displays an overshoot after each reversal,
- random reversals are asymmetric, i.e. involve two phases: a slow one triggered by turbulent fluctuations followed by a fast one mostly governed by the deterministic dynamics..."

A few others;
A Star with two North Poles - 2003: [link to science.nasa.gov]
The Sun Does a Flip - 2001: [link to science.nasa.gov]
The Sun's Polar Magnetic Field, 1959 Paper discussing the delayed Polar Flip: [link to adsabs.harvard.edu]

Since modern observation began, the Sun's default has been to possess two opposing poles. During polar reversal, while the magnetic fields are in chaos and sorting themselves out, the two poles often have the same polarity temporarily and at weak strengths. Then as the reversal proceeds the poles settle in opposing polarities and power back up to full strength.

That phenomenon where the poles share the same polarity during the transition of a reversal is not noteworthy, it's occurred the last 3 cycles. That is not what the Hinode team is talking about. Unlike in the past, this time what we have is one pole reversing while the other pole does nothing. If trends continue, we will have both poles having the same polarity at full strength and they will just cement themselves that way until the next reversal.

That is what the term 'quadrupole sun' means. Two poles of the same polarity, cemented. This has never occurred since modern observation began. What a quadrupole sun would mean for us is anyone's guess.

The sun's magnetic pole reverses every 11 years....

Are we sooooo surprised by this????

Image is FAKE. That website wont generate that picture.

OP is a fraud.

The graph is sourced from WSO data.

[link to wso.stanford.edu]

That graph is sourced from the 20 nhz filtered measurements of solar polar field strength from the above page. You can check the readings for yourself and verify the graph is accurate.

Readings are provided for both north and south poles, both unfiltered and filtered.

and 5 stars

How did you turn all that data into that pretty graph?

Give us a step by step please Id like to verify it.

Not a shill, just adding a little brevity to a topic that is way beyond anything I can comprehend. And I'd venture a guess that I am not alone. When I come up with any real answers, you can bet I'll share my wealth of knowledge here. In the meantime, enjoy the video. lol

I was NOT refering to you...

yes, they still are...

Holy crap! That diagram looks like cell mitosis! Is the sun about to split into two!

"It is believed that the Sun has previously experienced these circumstances during the Maunder Minimum and Dalton Minimum, which are said to have been periods when the Earth's climate was colder."

well, um, that ain't happening.

If anything, and I mean this in addition to the 4000+ record highs that have been broken - the sun feels hotter. Even on a comfortable 75 degree day, the sun - to me and some others I've talked to - feels hotter than it should - on your skin etc.

I've felt this way for over a year now. It's almost as if I can actually feel the radiation from the sun penetrating through my body

When the Sun turns quadrupole, the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse will make its appearance.

^^^This^^^ And when I get a sunburn, it is different from any sunburn I've had in the past......(just speaking of this summer) The burn feels different like going through my whole body and my skin itches like crazy mad!!!! I tan easily, but my skin still itches, days after exposure....lotion/benedryl/etc....nothing relieves it....weird imo

I've felt this way for over a year now. It's almost as if I can actually feel the radiation from the sun penetrating through my body

So, what's this mean for us?

The graph in the opening post displays north and south pole data under the 20 nhz filtered columns, starting from March 22, 1999 and ending June 11, 2012. Feel free to go through the data and confirm the readings. By the way, for ease of reading the numbers represent gauss magnified by 100X, so for example here's the June 21, 2012 reading:

"20nhz filt: 3Nf 51Sf " = North Pole +0.03 gauss, South Pole +0.51 gauss

Hope you enjoy going over the data as much as I did! :)

So, it's confirmed it's "quadrupole" since May?

Since May 20th, 2012?

Remember May 20th, 2012 was a predicted date for doom...