Dull Sun could spark off next Little Ice Age in future

Washington, May 5 (ANI): Some scientists say the prolonged lull in solar
activity hints towards the next Little Ice Age, which could occur in the
near future.

The sun is the least active its been in decades and the dimmest in a hundred
years.

The lull is causing some scientists to recall the Little Ice Age, an unusual
cold spell in Europe and North America, which lasted from about 1300 to
1850.

The coldest period of the Little Ice Age, between 1645 and 1715, has been
linked to a deep dip in solar storms known as the Maunder Minimum.

During that time, access to Greenland was largely cut off by ice, and canals
in Holland routinely froze solid.

Glaciers in the Alps engulfed whole villages, and sea ice increased so much
that no open water flowed around Iceland in the year 1695.

For hundreds of years, scientists have used the number of observable
sunspots to trace the suns roughly 11-year cycles of activity.

Sunspots, which can be visible without a telescope, are dark regions that
indicate intense magnetic activity on the suns surface.

Such solar storms send bursts of charged particles hurtling toward Earth
that can spark auroras, disrupt satellites, and even knock out electrical
grids.

In the current cycle, 2008 was supposed to have been the low point, and this
year the sunspot numbers should have begun to climb.

But of the first 90 days of 2009, 78 have been sunspot free. Researchers
also say the sun is the dimmest its been in a hundred years.

The Maunder Minimum corresponded to a profound lull in sunspots. Astronomers
at the time recorded just 50 in a 30-year period.

If the sun again sinks into a similar depression, at least one preliminary
model has suggested that cool spots could crop up in regions of Europe, the
United States, and Siberia.