 What is the role of sunspots in this phenomenon?
An interview with Dr. I. M. Niemand, Director of the Psychophysical Institute of Solar and Terrestrial Relations, Camarillo, California. In the closing days of December, 1957, at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New York, Dr. Niemand delivered a paper entitled simply, "On the Nature of the Solar S-Regions." I suppose you might say my main job today is to find out all I can between activity on the Sun and various forms of activity on the Earth. What do you mean by activity on the Sun? NIEMAND. Well, a sunspot is a form of solar activity. Just what is a sunspot? I'm afraid I can't say just what a sunspot is. A sunspot is a region on the Sun that is cooler than its surroundings. Isn't it true that the number of spots on the Sun rises and falls in a cycle of eleven years? The number of spots on the Sun rises and falls in a cycle of about eleven years. It means you can only approximately predict the future course of sunspot activity. Sunspots are mighty treacherous things. Haven't there been a great many correlations announced between sunspots and various effects on the Earth? There is unquestionably a correlation between sunspots and disturbances of the Earth's magnetic field ... radio fade-outs ... auroras ... I think our biggest advance was the discovery that sunspots themselves are not the direct cause of the disturbances we have been studying on the Earth. In the solar case it turned out to be these S-Regions.
 Sunspots are what we are able to see, but serve only as an approximation of S-Regions, the true cause
 Sunspots are what we are able to see, but serve only as an approximation of S-Regions, the true cause  Sunspots were the key for Henry Middletown's breakthrough in the study  Sunspots were what inspired Dr. Niemand to do research on the Sun in the first place  Sunspots are the underlying cause of the issue, which are trackable by S-regions