Saturday, December 08, 2007

The Sunspots Are Missing

Ray of hope: Can the sun save us from global warming?

Something is happening to our Sun. It has to do with sunspots, or rather the activity cycle their coming and going signifies. After a period of exceptionally high activity in the 20th century, our Sun has suddenly gone exceptionally quiet. Months have passed with no spots visible on its disc. We are at the end of one cycle of activity and astronomers are waiting for the sunspots to return and mark the start of the next, the so-called cycle 24. They have been waiting for a while now with no sign it's on its way any time soon.

And if the sunspots don’t return soon, we could be in for a period of dramatic change. But not in the direction the Global Warming alarmists are predicting. Instead we could be on the threshold of a mini ice age.
Following the discovery of the cycle, astronomers looked back through previous observations and were able to see it clearly until they reached the 17th century, when it seemed to disappear. It turned out to be a real absence, not one caused by a lack of observations. Astronomers called it the "Maunder Minimum." It was an astonishing discovery: our Sun can change. Between 1645 and 1715 sunspots were rare. About 50 were observed; there should have been 50,000.

Ever since the sunspot cycle was discovered, researchers have looked for its rhythm superimposed on the Earth's climate. In some cases it's there but usually at low levels. But there was something strange about the time when the sunspots disappeared that left scientists to ponder if the sun's unusual behaviour could have something to do with the fact that the 17th century was also a time when the Earth's northern hemisphere chilled with devastating consequences.

Scientists call that event the "Little Ice Age" and it affected Europe at just the wrong time. In response to the more benign climate of the earlier Medieval Warm Period, Europe's population may have doubled. But in the mid-17th century demographic growth stopped and in some areas fell, in part due to the reduced crop yields caused by climate change. Bread prices doubled and then quintupled and hunger weakened the population.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but could this be why there is such a push by the believers in anthropomorphic global warming to commit to a course of action to cut greenhouse gases (notably CO2) now, “before it’s too late”? If their movement is slowed or delayed a few years, we could well see a reduction in temperatures without having done a thing. If they (the alarmists) get their way and push through their agenda they can take credit for those temperature changes EVEN WHEN THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DROP IN TEMPERATURES.

Just a thought.

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