Scientists Warn Sun Will "Go to Sleep" in 2030, Could Cause Temperatures to Plummet

Is a Mini Ice Age on the Way? Scientists Warn Sun Will "Go to Sleep" in 2030, Could Cause Temperatures to Plummet

(Montage of images of solar activity between August 1991 and September 2001 taken by the Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope)

A new study claims to have cracked predicting solar cycles - and says that between 2030 and 2040 solar cycles will cancel each other out.

This, they say, will lead to a phenomenon known as the 'Maunder minimum' - which has previously been known as a mini ice age when it hit between 1646 and 1715, even causing London's River Thames to freeze over.

The new model of the Sun's solar cycle is producing unprecedentedly accurate predictions of irregularities within the Sun's 11-year heartbeat.

Predictions from the model suggest that solar activity will fall by 60 percent during the 2030s to conditions last seen during the 'mini ice age' that began in 1645, according to the results presented by Prof Valentina Zharkova at the National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno.

Sources:
www.dailymail.co.uk...
astronomynow.com...
www.ras.org.uk...
www.sciencedaily.com...


It's going to get a might bit chilly around these parts here in another 15 years. Anyone think "global warming" will prevent the next "Maunder minimum"?

Seems that as of right now, the sun is in a state of high activity, which will cause some high temperatures until this current sun cycle ends around 2020.

I guess we'll soon see how truly accurate (97% accuracy they say) these new models actually are.

This whole climate thing is getting really hard to keep up with ?

a reply to: _BoneZ_

These seem to happen a lot, for a lot of different reasons. Have you heard of the year without a summer? In 1815 Mount Tambora erupted, spewing dust and ash into the atmosphere. It blocked the sun and temperatures dropped. There were hard frosts during the summer months and crops failed. You can read more about it here. People survived that and the other mini ice ages. I'm sure we'll get through this one if it happens. One good thing is that people with green houses would still be able to grow food.

a reply to: _BoneZ_

Notes to self for year 2029:

-Buy stocks in Northface clothing
-Hoard firewood and canned goods
-Move to Tahiti


I wonder what this is going to do to our food supply during those years. I'm sure the population is going to be closer to 8 billion people by then.



Ghost

In my mind, this extends our time to develop the tech to deal with our lack of adequate habitat problem for our species as we move through this century. Either by developing the tech, discovering Earth 2.0, and taking a chunk of us there, else by sticking to our guns, and tackling the potential for runaway climate change here for a while yet.

I'm all for this. If it's a canceling out effect, winning the lotto. Good news!

S + F

a reply to: Greathouse

People don't realize that climates change. Antarctica was once green. Now it's not.

a reply to: _BoneZ_

Seems that as of right now, the sun is in a state of high activity, which will cause some high temperatures until this current sun cycle ends around 2020.

The sun is causing global warming.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Yea, those people are called mentally challenged, and make up maybe 1% of the population.

Meanwhile, the other 99% is concerned with the RATE of change vs our abilities to adapt while keeping civilization rockin.

a reply to: Skid Mark



I'm quite sure that these cycles are all mother nature's Way of keeping all populations of the earth in check .

a reply to: _BoneZ_

Actually there is more than the one "solar cycle".

The most predominant one is the 22 year (2 x 11 year approx) Wolf Cycle. Although there are other cycles, they are subtle and when added to the Wolf cycle, do not move that far from nominal.

The last minimum of the Wolf cycle (in June 2006) did not equate to the lowered total solar radiance that was expected, and so it would be preemptive to say that this prediction is definite.

While the Maunder Minimum was an actual measurable event, its causes are still not fully known and could be a result of the compounding of many factors (some of them extrasolar) at the same time.

good thing there will be plenty of greenhouse gases to kept the heat in hunh.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: Greathouse

People don't realize that climates change. Antarctica was once green. Now it's not.

Continental drift!!!!

Pangea




Back then it was green, but that wasn't because the climate changed.

originally posted by: Greathouse
a reply to: Skid Mark



I'm quite sure that these cycles are all mother nature's Way of keeping all populations of the earth in check .

Or, you know....Naturally occurring cycles that happen regardless of population density (or even the existence of life, for that matter).

originally posted by: admirethedistance

originally posted by: Greathouse
a reply to: Skid Mark



I'm quite sure that these cycles are all mother nature's Way of keeping all populations of the earth in check .

Or, you know....Naturally occurring cycles that happen regardless of population density (or even the existence of life, for that matter).

Yeah my statement was a philosophical statement .

a reply to: _BoneZ_

I would rather freeze than burn alive. At least when its cold you can put on another layer. I'm no stranger to cold, I'm from Winnipeg. "Winter-peg". By the way. If we go into an ice-age AND there is global warming, so much for the anti anthropogenic climate crowd...eh?

All we have to do is increase output of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases to the levels that would retain enough heat to keep us warm but not enough so that it wouldn't dissipate in ten years. Ice age problem solved!

And who said greenhouse gases couldn't save the world?!

I'm from Sweden

I would love it if these forecasters could predict the weather here in the north west of England for a month in advance, never mind the sun in 15 years time.
The sun is a hugely dynamic system, and here is just one thing, incoming fallout from asteroids, comets and dust is not taken into account simply because there is no way to take these things into account.
On the bright side, as you said, no more getting heated to death, we can continue with our environmental hara kiri with full abandon!

Figures, just as i will be ready to retire to deal with old man cold issues already and then this? Figures!

a reply to: _BoneZ_

If solar activity falls by 60% everything will die. Not a new ice age, a planet that can no longer sustain life.

Except maybe some bacteria. Some of those might live. Maybe life does go on...? I dunno...

But 60% ?! I don't buy it.