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A couple relevant links: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/11jul_solarcycleupdate.htm http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/11jul_solarcycleupda... NA

A couple relevant links: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/11jul_solarcycleupdate.htm http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/11jul_solarcycleupda... NASA solar physicist David Hathaway thinks that this is mostly alarmist nonsense, and after looking at his solar cycle graph, I'm inclined to agree with him. The Maunder Minimum was a huge departure from the cycle, and it's far too early to extrapolate and assume a similar departure. http://www.spaceweather.com http://www.spaceweather.com Space Weather tracks daily sunspot activity, as well as lots of other cool tidbits of current astronomy.

grimoire 18y ago
There is some serious smack-down in that NASA article. "In the early 20th century there were periods of quiet lasting almost twice as long as the current spell." "In summary, "the current minimum is not abnormally low or long."" "Hathaway anticipates more spotless days, maybe even hundreds, followed by a return to Solar Max conditions in the years around 2012." Along with some interesting graphs, it looks like everything is business as usual for the sun. A google search on the author, Rebecca Sato, shows that she typically writes lots of "what if" and other fluff pieces. Sounds like fear mongering to me.
- kajecounterhack 18y ago
  Whatever it is, what does it matter if we can't predict what's going to happen? As far as we know, the world's getting warmer and its time to start buying priuses wherever we can afford them ;)
  - kingkongrevenge 18y ago
    > As far as we know, the world's getting warmer Temperature peaked in 1998.
    - ojbyrne 18y ago
      It would be nice to have a reference for that.
    - eru 18y ago
      Actually it peaks every year - in summer.
ced 18y ago
Agreed. My former advisor was as good as anyone in that field. He has a very good introduction (... for a grad course in physics) to the dynamo problem (aka.: the solar cycle) at http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrsp-2005-2/ http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrsp-2005-2/ It is fair to say that solar dynamo modelling has not yet recovered from this four-way punch, in that nothing remotely resembling concensus currently exists as to the mode of operation of the solar dynamo From the Brief historical survey, which is at least partly readable.

grimoire 18y ago

There is some serious smack-down in that NASA article. "In the early 20th century there were periods of quiet lasting almost twice as long as the current spell." "In summary, "the current minimum is not abnormally low or long."" "Hathaway anticipates more spotless days, maybe even hundreds, followed by a return to Solar Max conditions in the years around 2012." Along with some interesting graphs, it looks like everything is business as usual for the sun. A google search on the author, Rebecca Sato, shows that she typically writes lots of "what if" and other fluff pieces. Sounds like fear mongering to me.

kajecounterhack 18y ago
Whatever it is, what does it matter if we can't predict what's going to happen? As far as we know, the world's getting warmer and its time to start buying priuses wherever we can afford them ;)
- kingkongrevenge 18y ago
  > As far as we know, the world's getting warmer Temperature peaked in 1998.
  - ojbyrne 18y ago
    It would be nice to have a reference for that.
  - eru 18y ago
    Actually it peaks every year - in summer.

ced 18y ago

Agreed. My former advisor was as good as anyone in that field. He has a very good introduction (... for a grad course in physics) to the dynamo problem (aka.: the solar cycle) at http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrsp-2005-2/ http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrsp-2005-2/ It is fair to say that solar dynamo modelling has not yet recovered from this four-way punch, in that nothing remotely resembling concensus currently exists as to the mode of operation of the solar dynamo From the Brief historical survey, which is at least partly readable.