Posted on 12/04/2009 9:41:40 AM PST by dila813
September 3, 2009: The sun is in the pits of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Weeks and sometimes whole months go by without even a single tiny sunspot. The quiet has dragged out for more than two years, prompting some observers to wonder, are sunspots disappearing?
"Personally, I'm betting that sunspots are coming back," says researcher Matt Penn of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, Arizona. But, he allows, "there is some evidence that they won't."
Penn's colleague Bill Livingston of the NSO has been measuring the magnetic fields of sunspots for the past 17 years, and he has found a remarkable trend. Sunspot magnetism is on the decline:
(Excerpt) Read more at science.nasa.gov ...
"Sunspot magnetic fields are dropping by about 50 gauss per year," says WPenn. "If we extrapolate this trend into the future, sunspots could completely vanish around the year 2015."
I’d say, we’re screwed.
My word.
Sunspots are cyclic. We know that. They come and they go. Sometimes their presence or their absence is especially notable. At the present time, their absence is extremely pronounced. Fine.
But evidence that they won't come back? Excuse me? Does this guy panic at 9PM, worried that dawn will never come? This guy is a solar researcher, and he talks like that??
Bookmark
But, he allows, “there is some evidence that they won’t.”
Well, my dimwitted friend, evidence hasn’t stopped you aholes from reaching your moronic conclusions yet...
Global Cooling Alert!!!!
We need Government-Funded SUV’s!!!
But that will NEVER happen, because it was never about stopping global warming, it was just an attack on our modern way of life and capitalism and America in particular.
Sunspots are cyclic. We know that. They come and they go. Sometimes their presence or their absence is especially notable. At the present time, their absence is extremely pronounced. Fine.
But evidence that they won't come back? Excuse me? Does this guy panic at 9PM, worried that dawn will never come? This guy is a solar researcher, and he talks like that??
Except that the rotation of the earth is far more predictable and understood than sunspots. I'm not necessarily agreeing with the author, but it's entirely possible that we could see 1000 years without any sunspots, whereas the rising of the sun as a result of the earth's rotation is definitely assured.
All a function of things we understand verses things we do not.
OMG, WE HAVE TO BAN SPOT REMOVER NOW!!!
</my liberal moment>
The UN, IPCC, CRU, and the rest of the cabal of global Nazis will simply turn their "Dangerous global warming" graphs upside down.
Then we'll be told that they need to save us from the trend of dangerous global cooling.
could, might, maybe, perhaps,
This is a very interesting article for two reasons:
#1, it demonstrates that there is a lot to be learned about climate change and it does indicate the possibility of cooling.
#2. Just as important you will note that we do not see hysterical wailing that the world is going to go back to the ice age with 5,000 ft. mountains of ice in IL and WI and that we are all going to die if we do not do something before dark tonight.
Instead you have the REAL scientists coll headed relation of the facts as he sees them and an admission that it is new ground that needs more examination and even that the research may be flawed.
Contrast that with the crazy rants of Al Gore and the rest of the GW crowd announcing that the world will end in years if not months.
These guys are to be respected whether right or not.
But don't expect the media to come a running. They are still trying to hold back ClimateGate is hopes that Obama will take Global control at Copenhagen.
Too soon to panic. Somebody could plot a trend line of daylight hours from late June to late July and the trend line would show that we'd be heading toward perpetual nighttime.
The thing is, this could be correlated with the natural cycle of sunspots themselves, as pointed out in the article. Nobody really knows since most of the data is from DURING that cycle.
2009 had had fewer sunspots than 2008, so the minimum may not have been reached.
OMG. How could we have possibly cause sun spots to disappear.
Algore will probably postulate the problem with sunspots disappearing is it tends to mask the global warming that is occurring...
Somehow, someway, this has got to be BUSH’S FAULT!.....................
No, if we go into a period of cooling, the socialists will suddenly realize that doubling CO2 will only increase heat retention by 2%, thus coal burning won’t matter.
We may be in the beginnings of another “Maunder Minimum.” The lats time we had one, 1645-1715, we also had the “Little Ice Age.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_minimum
Fire up those SUV’s, we aim to save the world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.