Global Cooling?

international | environment | other press Wednesday April 29, 2009 14:37 by Saoirsí - Alliance of the Libertarian Left (Ireland) saoirsi at libertarian dot ie

Decreased Sun Spot Activity May Alter Global Warming Scenarios

Although there is much discussion about the Global Warming from CO2 theory, attention is increasingly being focused on an apparent lack of solar activity currently, which historically has been associated with global cooling.

We are in a period of low solar activity - “the deepest solar minimum of the entire Space Age,” says Dr. Soon, a Harvard astrophysicist. “In fact, this is the quietest Sun we have had in almost a century.”

Sun spots - like huge magnetic hurricanes causing relatively dark spots as eyes-of-the-storm on the sun's surface - are associated with periods of high solar activity, and increased energy outflow.

Cycles of sun spots have usually been observed in 11 year cycles. However, this has been subject to change historically, alternating between periods of high activity or "solar maxima", and low or no activity - "solar minima".

Solar Maxima are associated with generally warming conditions (such as our past century - although this does not in itself rule out other causes). Periods in the past associated with Solar Minima include the "Little Ice Age" (or Maunder Minimum, named after the scientist who brought it to attention) of the late 17th and early 18th Centuries.

References:

The missing sunspots: Is this the big chill?
The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-missing-s....html

Harvard astrophysicist: Sunspot activity correlates to global climate change
TGDaily
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42006/181/

'Curious' Why Is the Sun So Dim Lately?
WBZ-TV Video Archive
http://wbztv.com/video/?id=75101@wbz.dayport.com
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/curious_why_the...tely/