Are we headed for a Little Ice Age?
The year 2013 – this year – was supposed to be the year of ‘solar maximum,’ the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle.
Instead, the sun is incredibly calm.
Although NASA had forecast major solar storms, the space agency now admits that “sunspot numbers are well below their values from 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent.”
Sun-Earth Comparison - NASA
Normally, solar activity swings back and forth in a cycle. At one end of the cycle, the sun remains quiet, with few sunspots and flares. At the other end, solar max brings high sunspot numbers and frequent solar storms.
It’s a regular rhythm that usually repeats every 11 years.
But not this time.
Surface of the Sun facing Earth on 28 Feb 2013 as observed by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The sun is usually riddled with many spots during peak solar activity, but this time, just a few small sunspots appear on an otherwise clean face.
Experts have been baffled by the apparent lack of activity – with many wondering if NASA simply got it wrong.
Hmm. Do you suppose that the Russian astrophysicist Habibullo Abdussamotov got it right?
Abdussamatov, head of space research at Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in St. Petersburg, Russia, has been predicting for years now that a new Little Ice Age would begin in 2014.
http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-maximum-activity-2013-3
Thanks to Alan Caruba, Chuck aka Xtnyoda and Andrew Stranglen for these links