The unusual solar cycle 23: The vanishing solar wind its cause and impact

Solar cycle 23 was very unusual, in many ways, with polar magnetic fields showing a steady decline throughout the cycle and with the sunspot minimum being the deepest that we have experienced in a century. Recent studies even suggest that sunspots may entirely vanish by cycle 25. Apart from this cycle 23 had several instances when the solar wind apparently “disappeared” for periods exceeding 24 hours. We examine these solar wind disappearance events which correspond to density decreases, at 1 AU, by over two orders of magnitude for extended periods of time and show that these events though not associated with explosive solar phenomena, produce observable space weather effects at 1 AU. Understanding these events is therefore important in establishing and understanding solar terrestrial relationships in absence of explosive solar events. With the exception of CIR´s solar wind disappearance events, provide the only evidence for solar terrestrial connection caused by a non-explosive solar events.