Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ice Age, Not: "A Solar Scientist Rebuts a Cool Sunspot Prediction"

Following up on this morning's "*****Alert***** "What's down with the Sun? Major drop in solar activity predicted" *****Alert*****".
From the New York Times' Dot Earth blog:

Douglas Biesecker, a scientist at the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the leader of an international effort to chart and forecast trends in sunspots, has offered a detailed new critique of three lines of analysis predicting a long and deep lull in sunspot activity, with substantial potential impacts on Earth’s climate (and climate policy).

The last such hiatus in the sunspot cycle, the Maunder Minimum from 1645 to 1715, coincided with a prolonged stretch of cool temperatures, particularly in winter in the Northern Hemisphere....MORE, including video.