National Geographic: The sun’s fluctuations can help predict extreme climatic events on Earth decades ahead of time, new research suggests. Solar cycles are 11-year phases during which the sun’s activity ebbs and flows, accompanied by an increase in sunspots on the sun’s surface. (Watch a video of how solar storms cause “sun quakes.”) The cycles, which are driven by the sun’s magnetic turbulence, may influence weather systems on Earth, particularly the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, a periodic …