http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3223603.ece Excerpts:
"Our Sun has suddenly gone exceptionally quiet. Months have passed with no spots visible on its disc." "Between 1645 and 1715 sunspots were rare. It was also a time when the Earth's northern hemisphere chilled dramatically." "The past decade has been warmer than previous ones. It is the result of a rapid increase in global temperature between 1978 and 1998. Since then average temperatures have held at a high, though steady, level. Many computer climate projections suggest that the global temperatures will start to rise again in a few years. But those projections do not take into account the change in the Sun's behaviour. The tardiness of cycle 24 indicates that we might be entering a period of low solar activity that may counteract man-made greenhouse temperature increases. Some members of the Russian Academy of Sciences say we may be at the start of a period like that seen between 1790 and 1820, a minor decline in solar activity called the Dalton Minimum. They estimate that the Sun's reduced activity may cause a global temperature drop of 1.5C by 2020. This is larger than most sensible predictions of man-made global warming over this period." Paul Cherubini El Dorado, Calif.
