Scurrying to CTA, the media is weazelwording now.

WASHINGTON — The sun has been unusually quiet lately, with fewer sunspots and weaker magnetic fields than in nearly a century. A quiet sun is good for Earth: GPS systems are more accurate, satellites stay in orbit longer; even the effects of manmade global warming are marginally reduced, though just by three-tenths of a degree at most.

For centuries, people have been counting sunspots, which are cooler, darker areas of intense magnetic fields that form on the sun's surface. The number of sunspots in recent months has been the lowest since 1913, according to NASA. Scientists are looking as far back as the early 1800s for similar quiet periods. They generally last about five years. This quiet spell, which started in 2007, may follow suit.

During the last high solar period, there were sunspots each day — sometimes hundreds of them — from January 1998 to February 2004. So far this year, there have been only 14 days with sunspots. The sun is more spot-free now than it was last year when scientists thought solar action had hit bottom.

Thomas Bogdan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., said solar activity should be increasing "anytime now."

Others think this may be a replay of 1913 or the even deeper solar ditch of 200 years ago, the Dalton Minimum. The deepest ditch of all was in the 1600s.

A deep minimum probably drops global temperatures temporarily about two-tenths to three-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit, not nearly enough to make up for global warming, said Tom Woods of the University of Colorado's atmospheric and space physics lab.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Science/SCI_Quiet_Sun.html

Ya'll know that said Dalton Minimum ....... is the same as the Little Ice Age, .... don't ya?

And that temporarily drop in global temperatures only lasted 200 years ....... so no need for anyone to worry.



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