Happy Spring to you too!

Unlike the magnetic field of an iron bar magnetic, which is steady and unchanging, the Sun's magnetic field periodically reverses itself. An iron bar magnet has a magnetic field because of the structure of the iron atoms inside it and how they are aligned with respect to one another. The Sun's magnetic field is generated by strong electrical currents caused by the motions of the plasma inside it - scientists call this a magnetic dynamo. We don't know exactly how this magnetic dynamo works, but we do know that the outward changes in the Sun's appearance (like sunspots) and activity (like solar flares and CMEs) that we associate with the solar cycle are signs that something is changing deep inside the Sun where the dynamo generates the magnetic field.

Kris