Is something starting to go wrong with the Sun?

[Keatah]

I read this -- http://www.space.com/11960-fading-sunspots-slower-solar-activity-solar-cycle.html -- and to back it up we almost had snow here in June, when normally it's a sweltering 95`F ..:shrug:

I wonder if the next few years will be cooler like this, and then a mild & mini ice-age could fall.

 

[N_Molson]

Bah you can't correlate directly the solar cycles with the weather you have this month in your local area. Things are a lot, lot more complex than this. For exemple, in France, we had a very hot Spring, so really the climate is very different from a point of the globe to another.

Compare temperature average charts on various places of the Earth in the next 200 years, and maybe you'll be able to draw a conclusion.

Considering that human activity contribute to warm the climate on a global scale, this is very complex and maybe the greenhouse effect could limit the consequences of a reduction of the solar activity.

 

[Krikkit]

 

[PennyBlack]

"If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we'll see for a few decades," Hill said. "That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth's climate."

Start pumping that CO2.

 

[Evil_Onyx]

There is alot of could be's and may be's in that article.

On a side note, we have only been directly observing the Sun regularly since the 60's, so how can we make asumtions with relatively little historical data (50 years of est. 4.5 Billion years of the suns life so far.)

 

[Rtyh-12]

I agree. There has been some weird weather around... for example, here it almost didn't snow at all this winter. It rained on Christmas Eve for two years in a row... but in other places, like yours, you say that it has been cooler. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with the Sun, or global warming. I think we just had weird weather.

 

[C3PO]

On a side note, we have only been directly observing the Sun regularly since the 60's, so how can we make asumtions with relatively little historical data (50 years of est. 4.5 Billion years of the suns life so far.)

The same way we calculate chances for extraterrestrial life with a statistical base of one.

 

[RisingFury]

I read this -- http://www.space.com/11960-fading-sunspots-slower-solar-activity-solar-cycle.html -- and to back it up we almost had snow here in June, when normally it's a sweltering 95`F ..:shrug:

I wonder if the next few years will be cooler like this, and then a mild & mini ice-age could fall.

Yup. This will offset the CO2 we're dumping into the atmosphere. Because real climatologists work by looking out the window and if it snows and if there are less sun spots, then it must be an ice age.

---------- Post added at 11:46 ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 ----------

That movie was already made! I forgot the title, but they send a ship with a giant solar shield in the front and a little capsule to restart the fusion.

 

[C3PO]

Yup. This will offset the CO2 we're dumping into the atmosphere.

I bet the CO2 tax will not be replaced by CO2 subsidies. Any takers? :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

That movie was already made! I forgot the title, but they send a ship with a giant solar shield in the front and a little capsule to restart the fusion.

Sunshine.

Was on TV this Tuesday here.

 

[RisingFury]

Sunshine.

Was on TV this Tuesday here.

Thanks! If anyone wants a look:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/

 

[agentgonzo]

Start pumping that CO2.

Don't worry. The Germans and Italians have jumped on the post-Fukushima bandwagon to destroy the climate for us all.
Sometimes I just want to punch an entire nation.

Yup. This will offset the CO2 we're dumping into the atmosphere. Because real climatologists work by looking out the window and if it snows and if there are less sun spots, then it must be an ice age

Unfortunately, whilst it may offset the CO2 dumping for the next decade, global warming will still be a problem when the Sun gets through this quiet phase and starts heating up again. This will help temporarily with the symptoms, not the actual problem.

On a side note, we have only been directly observing the Sun regularly since the 60's, so how can we make asumtions [sic] with relatively little historical data

No, we've been directly observing the sun for a bit longer than that. A similar lack of activity happened in the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_minimum"]1600s[/ame].

 

[Artlav]

Sunshine...
Nice idea, horrible implementation.

 

[Urwumpe]

Don't worry. The Germans and Italians have jumped on the post-Fukushima bandwagon to destroy the climate for us all.
Sometimes I just want to punch an entire nation.

Sorry, that we decided to use renewable energy sources, but it is a bit stupid to run a nuclear industry without a nuclear waste dump. We will soon have one that can take all the remains of the nuclear reactors when they are dismantled, more would get very tough.

Also you are very wrong, if you claim this was the Post-Fukushima bandwagon for Germany. The current government was just forced to revert their exit from the nuclear exit that had already been law (If you read the article carefully, you will find out that the new exit schedule is the same as the old one, just the loophole of letting older nuclear power plants run longer at the expense of newer more expensive power plants was removed). Fukushima was just the confirmation that promised safety is not enough.

 

[N_Molson]

And here's a way to solve the both problems : build HLVs, then send the waste straight into the Sun. Who knows, it could even boost it's activity ! :stirpot:

 

[agentgonzo]

Fukushima was just the confirmation that promised safety is not enough.

Lets just hope that no magnitude-9 earthquakes or 15m tsunamis hit Germany before they can decommission all of these dangerous reactors.

 

[Urwumpe]

Lets just hope that no magnitude-9 earthquakes or 15m tsunamis hit Germany before they can decommission all of these dangerous reactors.

Would be nice if only such extremes cause trouble. German BWRs are different to other BWRs, since they had been forced by law to include a special automatic pressure vent valve with included filter, so there should be less reason to worry.


But the real cause of the accident in Japan exists in Germany as well and is responsible for a huge list of accidents and anomalies: Criminal negligence.

 

[PennyBlack]

Lets just hope that no magnitude-9 earthquakes or 15m tsunamis hit Germany before they can decommission all of these dangerous reactors.

The international community is re-evaluating the use of Nuclear for power generation and Britain had planned to extend our nuclear power generation by five stations. But it's now been shelved whilst the dust settles in japan. Which suprised me as I though those Japanise where safety nuts. It seems there like everyone else... "We are so safe, nothing could possible go wrong" and I used to agree with nuclear, reducing our CO2 with modern technologies, but forget that. If one of ours goes up, our nation would be toast. As it stands, we'll have to put tax payers money into decomissioning them while the private sector opperates them for profit until that point. It'll cost billions, but rather the cost in money than in lives. There are alternatives, but at the moment there is no real commitment to invest in alternatives, unless theres a wind turbine involved.

 

[RisingFury]

Unfortunately, whilst it may offset the CO2 dumping for the next decade, global warming will still be a problem when the Sun gets through this quiet phase and starts heating up again. This will help temporarily with the symptoms, not the actual problem.

For anyone that didn't catch my sarcasm...
The amplitude of the fluctuation of the Sun's output is in the range of 0.2% of it's output. It's low enough to get easily overpowered by other atmospheric phenomena.