"In particular, it has been noted that between about 1645 and 1715, few sunspots were seen on the Sun's surface. This period is called the Maunder Minimum after the English astronomer who studied it. It coincided with a spell of prolonged cold weather often referred to as the "Little Ice Age". Solar scientists strongly suspect there is a link between the two events - but the exact mechanism remains elusive."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3869753.stm
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From NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's "Not So Frequently Asked Questions" section:
Q-Does the number of sunspots have any effect on the climate here on Earth?
A-Sunspots are slightly cooler areas on the surface of the Sun, due to the intense magnetic fields, so they radiate a little less energy than the surroundings. However, there are usually nearby areas associated with the sunspots that are a little hotter (called falculae), and they more than compensate. The result is that there is a little bit more radiation coming from the Sun when it has more sunspots, but the effect is so small that it has very little impact on the weather and climate on Earth.
However, there are more important indirect effects: sunspots are associated with what we call "active regions", with large magnetic structures containing very hot material (being held in place by the magnetism). This causes more ultraviolet (or UV) radiation (the rays that give you a suntan or sunburn), and extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV). These types of radiation have an impact on the chemistry of the upper atmosphere (e.g. producing ozone). Since some of these products act as greenhouse gases, the number of sunspots (through association with active regions) may influence the climate in this way.
Many active regions produce giant outflows of material that are called Coronal Mass Ejections. These ejections drag with them some of the more intense magnetic fields that are found in the active regions. The magnetic fields act as a shield for high-energy particles coming from various sources in our galaxy (outside the solar system). These "cosmic rays" (CRs) cause ionization of molecules in the atmosphere, and thereby can cause clouds to form (because the ionized molecules or dust particle can act as "seeds" for drop formation).
If clouds are formed very high in the atmosphere, the net result is a heating of the Earth - it acts as a "blanket" that keeps warmth in.
If clouds are formed lower down in the atmosphere, they reflect sunlight better than they keep heat inside, so the net result is cooling.
Which processes are dominant is still a matter of research.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/classroom/notsofaq.html#SUNSPOT_CLIMATE
The “Little Ice Age impacted Asia and Europe - with devastating results. Some glaciers even buried villages. Crop failures, starvation, disease - 900,000 million dead.
The Little Ice Age is implicit in driving the Vikings from their communities in Greenland - (30,000 people) but no one knows where they went. However, there is evidence that they came down through the waterways - St. Lawrence/Great Lakes - to places like what is now upper NY state (the Indians there are known as the People of the Long House - the only tribes that built the Viking-like dwellings) - and that some may have gone further west - and integrated with the Mandans - who built yet another type of dwelling similar to another type of Viking structure. There were physical similarities as well.
However, at the time Europe and Asia were buried in cold, there wasn't much in the Americas, history wise - and not much if any, to say about such devastating weather. Indeed, the first winter that the Pilgrims spent in Massachusetts - arriving in Dec with no Holiday Inn down the road - they recorded only about 4 snow storms for the season, and none of any great depth - indeed, about the same as this season in Maine - we had 3 ‘plowable’ storms, and not much snow each time. We've had a, to me, wonderfully mild winter - while Europe and Asia have been devastated - buried in snow and severe cold - some villages totally cut off, trains unable to run, food had to be helicoptered in.
So - along with the evidence that the north pole has shifted, requiring recalibration in GPS systems - to keep planes - in Miami, for example - from landing in fields instead of the runways. Now if the pole has shifted - the earth warbled a bit ? and tilted our hemisphere a bit towards warmer seasons - then the other half of the world - Europe and Asia - it would follow, would, unfortunately, be on the colder side of the tilt?
That's my unqualified take on it - and I'm sticking to it - cause I don't have enough years left to wait for another warming period ;o)
BTW, the articles postulations come from studies in Norway - they are on ‘the other side.”