Zero Sunspot Activity! New Iceage?

[madanthonywayne]

Sunspots seem to be markers for solar activity, when the suns burning hot, we get lots o A f sunspots. When it's running cold, we get few or none. The past year or so the number of sunspots has been unusually low, with August being very unusual in that there were no sunspots at all. It was the first time that's happened in almost 100 years. A normal month would have about 100 sunspots.

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.

When the sun is active, it's not uncommon to see sunspot numbers of 100 or more in a single month. Every 11 years, activity slows, and numbers briefly drop to near-zero. Normally sunspots return very quickly, as a new cycle begins.

But this year -- which corresponds to the start of Solar Cycle 24 -- has been extraordinarily long and quiet, with the first seven months averaging a sunspot number of only 3. August followed with none at all. The astonishing rapid drop of the past year has defied predictions, and caught nearly all astronomers by surprise.

Previous periods of reduced solar activity have coincided with rapid periods of global cooling:

In the past 1000 years, three previous such events -- the Dalton, Maunder, and Spörer Minimums, have all led to rapid cooling. One 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.

http://www.dailytech.com/Sun+Makes+History+First+Spotless+Month+in+a+Century/article12823.htm
If global warming theory is correct, perhaps it's time to mandate increased output of carbon to prevent an iceage.

 

[Blindman]

One thing is right we are due for an ice age.. nothing we have to worry about for many many generations. But I know that sunspots can raise the stupid to the surface... Hi madanthonywayne should i quake in fear, or are you pointing out a dubious anomaly that im not going to confirm. Time for Sciforum to get back to science..

Hey mods why are so many Pseudoscience nutters allowed to post such crap.

 

[spidergoat]

Absolutely, tax breaks for SUV's! Demand your congress take action.

 

[D H]

Straw man. The number of sunspots expected during a solar minimum is a lot less than 100. Guess what? We are in a solar minimum.

From http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/11jul_solarcycleupdate.htm

What's Wrong with the Sun? (Nothing)
Stop the presses! The sun is behaving normally.

So says NASA solar physicist David Hathaway. "There have been some reports lately that Solar Minimum is lasting longer than it should. That's not true. The ongoing lull in sunspot number is well within historic norms for the solar cycle."

This report, that there's nothing to report, is newsworthy because of a growing buzz in lay and academic circles that something is wrong with the sun. Sun Goes Longer Than Normal Without Producing Sunspots declared one recent press release. A careful look at the data, however, suggests otherwise.​

 

[iceaura]

If this sunspot minimum is actually cooling things from what they would otherwise be, then the warming effects observed - such as the unprecedented opening of both the NW and NE Passages in the arctic this year - are more serious signs than they would otherwise be.

The sunspots are likely to return. With them, the sudden appearance of any CO2 warming so far concealed.

 

[moementum7]

One thing is right we are due for an ice age.. nothing we have to worry about for many many generations. But I know that sunspots can raise the stupid to the surface... Hi madanthonywayne should i quake in fear, or are you pointing out a dubious anomaly that im not going to confirm. Time for Sciforum to get back to science..

Hey mods why are so many Pseudoscience nutters allowed to post such crap.

Lmao, glad to see I'm not the only one who has nothing better to do than complain and be derogatory.
Right with you blindman, nothing better to do or I would be doing it.
Damn weather.

Is the sun acting wierd?...sort of.
What does it mean?...don't know but it sounds like blindman does and if he says it's ok then it's got to be.