Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century

[cobalt1999]

Source: DailyTech

Drop in solar activity has potential effect for climate on earth.

The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years: an entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being noted.

The event is significant as many climatologists now believe solar magnetic activity – which determines the number of sunspots -- is an influencing factor for climate on earth.

According to data from Mount Wilson Observatory, UCLA, more than an entire month has passed without a spot. The last time such an event occurred was June of 1913. Sunspot data has been collected since 1749.

In the past 1000 years, three previous such events -- the Dalton, Maunder, and Spörer Minimums, have all led to rapid cooling. On was large enough to be called a "mini ice age". For a society dependent on agriculture, cold is more damaging than heat. The growing season shortens, yields drop, and the occurrence of crop-destroying frosts increases.

Read more: www.dailytech.com/Sun+Makes+History+First+Spotless+Month+in+a+Century/article12823.htm

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If this causes a short term cooling of the Earth, then I see a couple of major problems. First, it will provide more ammunition for Anthro-Global Warming skeptics. Second, when the sun spots do reappear combined with the greenhouse gases, think how much the temperature will jump.