Researchers Predict Another Ice Age

[The Wanderer]

A well worth to read article from http://www.dailytech.com

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Solar Activity Diminishes; Researchers Predict Another Ice Age

Global Cooling comes back in a big way

Dr. Kenneth Tapping is worried about the sun. Solar activity comes in regular cycles, but the latest one is refusing to start. Sunspots have all but vanished, and activity is suspiciously quiet. The last time this happened was 400 years ago -- and it signaled a solar event known as a "Maunder Minimum," along with the start of what we now call the "Little Ice Age."

Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, says it may be happening again. Overseeing a giant radio telescope he calls a "stethoscope for the sun," Tapping says, if the pattern doesn't change quickly, the earth is in for some very chilly weather.

During the Little Ice Age, global temperatures dropped sharply. New York Harbor froze hard enough to allow people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island, and in Britain, people reported sighting eskimos paddling canoes off the coast. Glaciers in Norway grew up to 100 meters a year, destroying farms and villages.

But will it happen again?

In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov predicted the sun would soon peak, triggering a rapid decline in world temperatures. Only last month, the view was echoed by Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. who advised the world to "stock up on fur coats." Sorokhtin, who calls man's contribution to climate change "a drop in the bucket," predicts the solar minimum to occur by the year 2040, with icy weather lasting till 2100 or beyond.

Observational data seems to support the claims -- or doesn't contradict it, at least. According to data from Britain's Met Office, the earth has cooled very slightly since 1998. The Met Office says global warming "will pick up again shortly." Others aren't so sure.

Researcher Dr. Timothy Patterson, director of the Geoscience Center at Carleton University, shares the concern. Patterson is finding "excellent correlations" between solar fluctuations, a relationship that historically, he says doesn't exist between CO2 and past climate changes. According to Patterson. we shouldn't be surprised by a solar link. "The sun [is] the ultimate source of energy on this planet," he says.

Such research dates back to 1991, when the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study showing that world temperatures over the past several centuries correlated very closely with solar cycles. A 2004 study by the Max Planck Institute found a similar correlation, but concluded the timing was only coincidental, as the solar variance seemed too small to explain temperature changes.

However, researchers at DMI continued to work, eventually discovering what they believe to be the link. The key factor isn't changes in solar output, but rather changes in the sun's magnetosphere A stronger field shields the earth more from cosmic rays, which act as "seeds" for cloud formation. The result is less cloud cover, and a warming planet. When the field weakens, clouds increases, reflecting more light back to space, and the earth cools off.

Recently, lead researcher Henrik Svensmark was able to experimentally verify the link between cosmic rays and cloud formation, in a cloud chamber experiment called "SKY" at the Danish National Space Center. CERN plans a similar experiment this year.

Even NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies -- long the nation's most ardent champion of anthropogenic global warming -- is getting in on the act. Drew Shindell, a researcher at GISS, says there are some "interesting relationships we don't fully understand" between solar activity and climate.
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Now, its interesting that this article says the world temperature has even dropped in the last couple of years instead of having risen, which is in stark contrast with what global warming would cause.

[srredfire]

GLOBAL WARMING VS. GLOBAL COOLING

ROUND 1.

FIGHT!

[ad_hominem]

Meh. I'll just wear an extra layer.

/Optimism

[Mango]

There are some that will say global warming is causing global cooling, and it's like a massive cold snap. Don't know how they arrived at that though. Some people think it might be due to an oncoming pole shift that possibly caused the last mini ice age. NASA think the entire solar system is heating up. Some people think cutting CO2 levels is accelerating the process of global warming.

I have no idea. I want them to bring back acid rain though. That was hardcore.

[ghost12332]

GLOBAL WARMING VS. GLOBAL COOLING

ROUND 1.

FIGHT!

Yah know, I was wondering the same thing.

Maybe everything will balance out and be alright (At least until i'm dead )!

[Tablespoon]

I want them to bring back acid rain though. That was hardcore.

Oh shit, I remember that. I was always waiting for the hydrochloric variety.

[Ale]

I want a zombie apocolypse.

[Tablespoon]

I'd be down for that.

[Athlete{UK}]

What do you mean another ice age? We're still in the last one.

[zombie@computer]

this discussion is as old sa is the day after tomorrow (crappy movie about the subject)

[rb_lestr]

Isn't another ice age directly related to global warming ?

[ampnetwork]

OMFG WERE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!

end sarcasm


Seriously whats with all this predictions anyway.

[reaper47]

It's all sensationalist nonsense that distracts from the one truly important issue: Stopping to pump tons of poisenous gas in our atmosphere. I don't care whether the globe slowly warms or cools, we can only wait and see. But I think it's a good idea to end the highly inefficient and unhealthy habit of burning stuff and hulling our world in clouds of carcinogenic smoke. Have you seen those pictures of Chinese megacities? The gray air Olympic sprinters are supposed to breathe during the upcoming games? It's scary.

[Penney]

I want them to bring back acid rain though. That was hardcore.

Oh shit, I remember that. I was always waiting for the hydrochloric variety.

I'm still waiting for it to rain LSD from the sky. Think about it, what would be worse an ice age or for it to rain strong hallucinagentics from the sky?

Or even worse, LSD laced snow durring an ice age! AHHH WERE ALL DOOMED!

[1447]

Isn't another ice age directly related to global warming ?

It is, at least here in Europe.

[entering scientist mode]

The hot climate in Europe is caused by the North Atlantic current. It brings hot water from around equator up here. If you look at a map, you'll see that New York lies at the same latitude as Spain, so imagine what it would be like without it.

However, this current is quite fragile. If the north pole melts, all the fresh water will interrupt the current, and eventually, it will dissapear. And there you go, Spain will have NY-weather, and Scandinavia will be inhabitable.

[/scientist mode]

Personally, I don't care if people don't believe in it or not, if someone told me that I was going to destroy the world if I continued doing whatever I was doing, I would have stopped immediately. Just my two cents...

On the other hand, acid rain ftw!