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      Global Warming is so last week, now it's “Global Climatic Change”

> The Canadian Space Agency's radio telescope has been reporting Flux Density
> Values so low they will mean a mini ice age if they continue.
>
> …
>
> This is because when the magnetic activity is low, the Sun is dimmer, and
> puts out less radiant warmth. If the Sun goes into dim mode, as it has in
> the past, the Earth gets much colder.
>
> …
>
> If the Sun's magnetic activity does not increase, and it goes dim for an
> extended period, it will get quite chilly. In the meantime the Canada Space
> Agency, the Royal Observatory Greenwich and the US (United States) Air
> Force Solar Optical Observing Network are all keeping an eye on the Sun.
>

Via spin the cat [1], “Sun's low magnetic activity may portend an ice age
[2]”

And

> Every day, scientists hoping to see an increase in solar activity train
> their instruments at the sun as it crosses the sky. This is no idle
> academic pursuit: A lull in solar action could potentially drive the
> planet's temperature down, or even prompt a mini Ice Age.
>
> …
>
> The last such solar funk corresponded with a period of bitter cold that
> began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until
> 1715. While there were competing causes for the climatic shift—including
> the Black Death's depopulation of tree-cutting Europeans and, more
> substantially, increased volcanic activity spewing ash into the atmosphere—
> the sun's lethargy likely had something to do with it.
>

Via spin the cat [3], “Sun Stays Sluggish as Weathermen Fight for Anti-Ice
Age Funding [4]”

has me wondering if Jerry Pournelle [5] called it correctly years ago (Fallen
Angels) [6]. There's still a lot we don't know about the weather, especially
what it'll be doing next week, much less next decade.

[1] http://spinthecat.blogspot.com/2008/01/mini-ice-age-coming.html
[2] http://www.britsattheirbest.com/001645.php
[3] http://spinthecat.blogspot.com/2008/02/expected-higher-activity-from-
[4] http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4248062.html
[5] http://www.jerrypournelle.com/
[6] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743471814/conmanlaborat-

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