1. The solar flares diminished and caused a mini ice age (average drop of what, 3-8 degrees C? — see Little Ice Age Wikipedia).
2. The solar flares returned and warmed up the entire planet to our current condition (an average increase of what 3-8 degrees C?).
3. But it was man's activity in the last 100 years that really warmed up the planet (by .7 degrees C).
4. If the solar activity remains low (risking a drop of what 10 degrees?), the planet will still stay warm because of man's activity (a net decrease of possibly 8.3 degrees?)??
Absurd conclusion.
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The “Little Ice Age” WAS world wide, as nearly every study since 2000 has demonstrated. It appears to have been on the order of 2-3F cooler (an 8C drop would be major Ice Age territory.) Earlier data was somewhat questionable, but now that it we realize that Bristle-Cone pine studies are of no use to serve as temperature proxies, it is very clear that both the Medieval Warm Period, and the Little Ice Age were world wide events. See Junk Science, and Anthony Watts’ sites for the data. The “scientist” cited in this article has not kept up with the field. http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Wikipedia:Little_ice_age includes references to some of the evidence for this, but is by no means definitive.
Quite a few scientists have stated things like “the next Ice Age could start any century now”. I agree with that. We are quite overdue, thank goodness, as can be seen from temperature graphs using ice core proxies. I suspect that being ‘overdue’ will simply mean that the fall in temperatures early will occur more rapidly. However, that is MERE opinion, and based on nothing I would call science, but simply history. The reason we may be “overdue” likely stems primarily from man’s changing the albedo of the planet a bit due to agriculture, and the Sun being quite warm, until the last decade. I hope it continues being warm.
As far as the Sun’s role: This article- http://www.tmgnow.com/repository/solar/lassen1.html -shows that there is a correlation in Solar Cycle length with Earth temperature. It amounts to -0.1C every 4months the Solar Cycle is longer. During the years 1944-May’96 the cycle averaged 125months. If the current “Dec’08 Minimum” ends up being accurate, Solar Cycle 23 will have lasted 151months... This would imply a (151-125)/(4mo/0.1C) = 0.65C lower than the last half of the 20th Century SIMPLY DUE to the Sun’s activity.
If this comes to pass during this coming 5-10 years, the global temperatures will virtually be the same as they were in the early 1900s.
Time, and the data will tell the truth here. I see no reason to hype anything until we see what that truth is.