Thanks no-to-illegals and ApplegateRanch for the pings.
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Posted on 06/14/2011 4:30:58 PM PDT by Salgak
Physicists say sunspot cycle is 'going into hibernation'
What may be the science story of the century is breaking this evening, as heavyweight US solar physicists announce that the Sun appears to be headed into a lengthy spell of low activity, which could mean that the Earth – far from facing a global warming problem – is actually headed into a mini Ice Age.
The announcement made on 14 June (18:00 UK time) comes from scientists at the US National Solar Observatory (NSO) and US Air Force Research Laboratory. Three different analyses of the Sun's recent behaviour all indicate that a period of unusually low solar activity may be about to begin.
The Sun normally follows an 11-year cycle of activity. The current cycle, Cycle 24, is now supposed to be ramping up towards maximum strength. Increased numbers of sunspots and other indications ought to be happening: but in fact results so far are most disappointing. Scientists at the NSO now suspect, based on data showing decades-long trends leading to this point, that Cycle 25 may not happen at all.
This could have major implications for the Earth's climate. According to a statement issued by the NSO, announcing the research:
An immediate question is whether this slowdown presages a second Maunder Minimum, a 70-year period with virtually no sunspots [which occurred] during 1645-1715.
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
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SolarHam does not originate it, he provides an aggregation point from a lot of sources. The first chart was from NASA at http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_predict_l.gif and the second chart was created from data from NOAA/SWPC (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Space Weather Prediction Center) by http://www.solen.info/
My personal suspicion is that they were right the first time as to the peak occurring in 2011, but were very wrong in the predicted level. I suspect that we're at the peak, or close to it, and that this cycle will resemble the Dalton Minimum. If cycle 24 looks like it's on a down swing in late fall, stock up, because we may have a bad winter and a bad planting season in 2012.
That tells me that FR is probably pretty high in Google's searching sequence...
No harm intended; just a whimsical look at the Internet's quirks. '-)
It might be time to do some greenhouse material gathering is what you’re saying, huh? Have you caught the threads where the state and feds are jumping on people whose ‘garden is too big? Trying to stop people from selling or even giving away their crops.
I’ve been trying to think of a way around that and the only thing I can come up with is to get neighbors to say they are growing crops with you, kind of a community garden idea.
Yes Inspector, I did help pay for the seeds. We divided the costs up amongst the ten of us. I don’t know much about planting seeds so I offered to pick weeds and help water. Yessir, she is going to teach us how to can the vegetables.
Various socialist welfare states in Europe are on the edge of bankruptcy. Third World countries like Egypt are seeing food prices soar and income to buy food shrink. Saudi may be experiencing a peak in their ability to deliver oil, causing higher prices. Increasing numbers of people are seeing that the value of what they produce is below the cost to feed and shelter them. The next five years may turn very ugly.
...or one could conclude that sunscreen ingredients are becoming ever more carcinogenic. ;^)
I mostly agree about the furnace, and logs, but the cost for fuel for the SUV may be out of sight if the world needs a lot more fuel to keep warm.
We may be coming back to the times of the “Victory Garden”. With unemployment way up, perhaps some businesses could hire people for 9 or 10 months and pay them 12 months of salary at a reduced rate, so they can do some serious gardening and preserving for several months. There are some teaching situations already where the teachers can choose to work 10 months at full salary devided into 10, or work 10 months but get paid during 12 months at a 10/12th rate each month.
Since we are in a brief period BETWEEN Ice Ages right now, this could happen at any time.
When the Little Ice Age began, it was rapid — the springs were cold with rain in torrents, destroyed the already-planted seed, and led to widespread famine. The areas high in latitude and/or altitude that had been supportive of farming during the Medieval Warming ceased to be, and remain so. Of course, most of us can have gardens, and the intensive method (”Square Foot Gardening” etc) would produce way more than we could use. Better not turn the excess into ethanol though, that’s just immoral. /jk
It’s fake.
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