Britain faces FREEZING winters as slump in solar activity threatens 'little Ice Age'

express.co uk ^ | June 23,2015 | By NATHAN RAO

[Hojczyk]

Climate experts warn the amount of light and warmth released by the sun is nosediving to levels "not seen for centuries".

They fear a repeat of the so-called 'Maunder Minimum' which triggered Arctic winter whiteouts and led to the River Thames freezing 300 years ago.

The Met Office-led study warns although the effect will be offset by recent global warming, Britain faces years of unusually cold winters.

A spokesman said: "A return to low solar activity not seen for centuries could increase the chances of cold winters in Europe and eastern parts of the United States but wouldn't halt global warming.

"Return of 'grand solar minimum' could affect European and eastern US winters."

Long episodes of low solar activity were seen during the Maunder Minimum between 1645 and 1715 and the 'Dalton Minimum' from 1790 to 1830.

Both periods coincided with colder-than-normal global temperatures earning the title from scientists of "Little Ice Age."

The latest study, published in Nature Communications, found reduced solar activity will lead to an overall cooling of the Earth of 0.1C.

A much bigger cooling effect is expected for Britain, northern Europe and North America where thermometers could drop by 0.8C.

Amanda Maycock, of the University of Cambridge and National Centre for Atmospheric Science, said: "It's important that we consider the potential impact of changes in UV output when looking at future climate."

[Mrs. Don-o]

The guy who has gone into these questions in detail is Bjorn Lomborg, in his book Cool It. Lomborg is willing to to posit global warming and even AGW, but is considered a maverick because on questions 3 - 5 he says

• if so, is it actually a bad thing? (Not necessarily)
• if so, can we even stop it? (Probably not, at any price), and
• if so, at what cost? (It would make more sense, politically, economically, and even ecologically, to just adapt when needed)

He shows that the cost of trying to "reverse" AGW would be astronomical and probably unsuccessful, whereas comprehensive adaptation would be much cheaper, more flexible, and easier to undo in case we find out the whole AGW hypothesis was a crock of %$#% from the git-go.

Look up Lomborg. He's worth it.

[hosepipe]

Whom determines “LITTLE”.. and how do they determine IT?..

What does “little” mean... what does “ice age” mean?..

Who are these idiots.. making these grandiose schemes..

How old are they?... Are they children?...

Is it even debatable?...

[Churchillspirit]

How very cliche.

[spokeshave]

A regular ice age has Chicago under a mile of ice.

[VTenigma]

Can’t be. I heard Nutella was causing global warming.

[Robert357]

So global warming is could help counter an new ice age? Say it can't be. I mean lets all burn coal for a few years.

[762X51]

Apparently the Sun didn’t get the Pope’s memo.

[spokeshave]

Apparently the Sun didn’t get the Pope’s memo.

Never mind the Pope....

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow,and our planet began to heal.

Welcome King Barack "Canute" Obama the Great.....

...Obama issues an Executive Order to the Sun...

....to increase it's magnetic field....

and make a good crop of sunspots before elections in 2016....

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sunspot formation is triggered by a magnetic field, which scientists say is steadily declining. They predict that by 2016 there may be no remaining sunspots, and the sun may stay spotless for several decades.

The last time the sunspots disappeared altogether was in the 17th and 18th century, and coincided with a lengthy cool period on the planet known as the Little Ice Age....and lasted 400 years.

[ogen hal]

Lies I tell you...all lies! Algore told me that the earth was going to burn.

[Cronos]

Cold? Britain? I lived there for a few years (well, ok, in Sussex, not in Orkney) and it’s hardly cold compared to Poland ....

[logi_cal869]

You did mean “a few more”, right?

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html

[logi_cal869]

No kidding.

[ops33]

Any weather forecasts beyond 3 or 4 days are just guesses.

[jmacusa]

Righto!

[jmacusa]

Oh, don’t be a pratt.

[Vermont Lt]

I knew there have been a few lately.

We need a good one in the northern Pacific to really screw things up. Or iceland.

Just a few degrees and life gets chilly.

[JAKraig]

The last time the sunspots disappeared altogether was in the 17th and 18th century, and coincided with a lengthy cool period on the planet known as the Little Ice Age....and lasted 400 years. . . .

________________________________________________________

I'm reluctant to get into this but there are a variety of misunderstanding of “facts” by most people who know a “little” about global warming.

There hasn't been any global warming since 1997.

The Maunder and Dalton Minimums were not connected events and happened as much as a hundred years apart.

The Dalton Minimum and it's “Little Ice Age” were mild compared to the Maunder Minimum where the “Little Ice Age” probably caused the plagues and starvation we often hear about in Europe.

Since there is no “Global Warming” it follows that it would be impossible to for the Global Warming to offset a new little Ice Age.

Something else to consider is this, the normal condition for the earth is Ice Age. Ice Ages last on average about 100,000 years, again, thats one hundred thousand years. We are currently in what is called an interglacial period. That is a period between the 100,000 year Ice ages where we have a warm climate. We have been in the current interglacial period for nearly 12,000 years. The 100,000 year Ice age is over due.

In some previous Ice Ages the Polar ice cap has extended as far south as the Ohio River with ice depths has much as two miles. It is very hard to farm on two mile thick ice.

Global warming on the other hand if it were real would be a very good thing for the world. Carbon Dioxide is plant food. Plants take water, Carbon Dioxide and sun light and make food for us, oh they also make oxygen for us. Carbon Dioxide saturation is approaching about 400 parts per million currently. When Carbon Dioxide falls below 300 parts per million plants struggle to survive, at 250 parts per million most plants don't survive.

Glass Hot House growers feed plants Carbon Dioxide. The purchase CO2 cylinders and pump it into their Green Houses until the level is at about 1000 parts per million. The CO2 is harmless to animals at that rate and at high concentrations of CO2 plants require about 1/3rd to 1/2 less water to grow.

Believe me when I say, Global Warming is good, Global Cooling is very bad.

[Mister Da]

The wind turbines wont turn in freezing weather. The snow covered solar panels wont generate any power.

We all should invest in a wood/coal burning stove & start chopping wood.

[Army Air Corps]

You shall burn and freeze simultaneously. It is a phenomenon known as Man-caused Global Climate Burn Freeze Change. It is caused by you having a comfortable lifestyle outside the total control of the state.

[Churchillspirit]

How polite....LOL !