Solar cycle 24 ending?
Our sun is a variable star and goes through normal solar cycles every 13 years or so. At the height of the cycle, there are lots of sunspots and also the sun's radiation is a lot higher. At the minima of the cycle, there are very few sunspots and the sun's output is a lot lower.
This last cycle has been a lot less vigorous than the ones preceding it and there is talk that we might be headed for
another Maunder Minimum -- a time from 1645 through 1715 when temperatures on Earth were unseasonably cold and there were very few visible sunspots.
Now,
climate blogger Tallbloke notes that we may have some sunspots with reversed magnetic polerization. This is a significant indicator of the end of a sunspot cycle.
Time to buy that down comforter and stock up on firewood if this is correct...
Posted by DaveH at December 2, 2012 12:56 PM