– Plunging solar activity threatens ‘Little Ice Age’ (Ice Age Now, June 25, 2015):
Climate experts warn the amount of light and warmth released by the sun is nosediving to levels “not seen for centuries”, says an article today in The Express.
They fear a repeat of the so-called ‘Maunder Minimum’ which triggered Arctic winter whiteouts and led to the River Thames freezing 300 years ago.
The Met Office spokesman said: “A return to low solar activity not seen for centuries could increase the chances of cold winters in Europe and eastern parts of the United States. In Britain, northern Europe and North America, thermometers could drop by 0.8C.
Long episodes of low solar activity were seen during the Maunder Minimum between 1645 and 1715 and the ‘Dalton Minimum’ from 1790 to 1830.
Both periods coincided with a period of colder-than-normal global temperatures known as the “Little Ice Age.”
Met Office long-range expert professor Adam Scaife said solar activity has already started to decline over the past few years.
He said: “Although the effect on global temperatures is very small, the local effect is big enough to make a difference and we need to include that in our future climate projections.”
He said if “factors come together”, severe winters like the 2009/10 chiller which crippled Britain could become more frequent.
“There is a high chance that solar activity of the sun will decrease over the next few years,” he said.
“There is a chance of a repeat of the Maunder Minimum period where sun spots completely vanish, there are already some signs of this.
James Madden, forecaster for Exacta Weather, said the effects may be felt as soon as this winter.
He said: “Solar activity levels, or solar flux, are currently estimated to be at their lowest for the last 100 years.
“On the basis of past solar activity levels it is an inevitability that solar and sunspot activity will continue to fall off the charts in the coming years and decades, including the upcoming winter period of 2015/16.”
Maunder Minimum is named after the English astronomer Edward Walter Maunder who noticed fewer sunspots were observed between 1645 and 1715.
The Met Office insists, of course, that even if we enter a new Maunder Minimum, it wouldn’t halt global warming.
I find it amazing that so-called scientists refuse to see what is before their very own eyes.
See entire article:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/586404/Britain-freezing-winters-slump-solar-activity