All these processes vary over time, some within milliseconds, others only over billions of years. The solar magnetic field, the effect of the movements of the plasma inside the Sun, is responsible for many of these changes.
Ancient peoples like the Sumerians and the Maya seemed to understand the Sun better than we do in some ways. Ancient civilizations like the Sumerians had a Sun God as primary deity. The Maya predicted important changes in 2012. Will these come from the Sun?