Solar cyclicity during the Maunder minimum

A multifaceted statistical study of all available data on solar activity during the Maunder minimum (1645–1715) is presented. The data include European telescope observations, Asian sunspot observations using the unaided eye, concentrations of cosmogeneous isotopes, and catalogues of polar aurorae. Joint analyses of data on the cosmogeneous isotopes 10Be and 14C are a promising source of information on solar activity in the past. The dates of relative sunspot maxima during the Maunder minimum are consistent with the idea that there were chaotic bursts of solar activity randomly distributed in time during this interval. The available evidence that the 11-year cyclicity was preserved in 1645–1715 are worthy of attention but require additional deep study and verification. No convincing evidence for a 22-year periodicity of the occurrence of sunspots during the Maunder minimum has been found.