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by Cap Allon
December 16,
2019
from
Electroverse Website
During periods of
low solar activity, such as the
deep solar minimum we're in now, the Sun
will often be devoid of sunspots - a great barometer for the depth
and longevity of solar minima.
The below graph shows how many days during a specific year that the
earth-facing side of the Sun has been spotless:
www.spaceweatherlive.com
As of Monday, December 16 (2019), the current stretch of days
without any observable spots has reached 33, making for a total of
270 spotless days in 2019 so far (or 77%).
This means that 2019 has now surpassed the 269 spotless days
observed in 2008 - the previous space age record low for
spotless days in a calendar year.
To find a year with more
blank suns, you have to go back to 1913 which had 311 spotless days
(or 85%).
And looking forward, 2020
is forecast by many to threaten that all-time 1913 record, as the
sun sinks ever-further into its next grand solar minimum cycle:
NASA have linked previous
periods of
low solar activity to global cooling,
but don't go letting no government agency tell you how it is, you
can correlate the two yourself using spaceweatherlive.com's
International Sunspot Number graph:
www.spaceweatherlive.com
The
Dalton Minimum (1790-1830)
brought with it a period of lower-than-average global
temperatures.
The Oberlach Station
in Germany, for example,
experienced a 2ºC decline over 20 years,
which devastated the country's food production.
The
Year Without a Summer also
occurred during the Dalton Minimum (in 1816).
As did crop failures
across Eurasia and the Americas, which led to food riots, famine
and ultimately the deaths of millions upon millions of people.
That 40-year temperature
decline coincides perfectly with a dip in solar activity.
And so do temperature plunges of the past - preceding the Dalton
were the much deeper Maunder and Spörer Grand Solar Minimums.
Taking the Maunder Minimum (1645-1715), we see its 70-or-so year
spell of global cold, crop loss, and famine again correlates neatly
with a sharp decline in solar output.
During
this
Grand Solar Minimum,
the Sun was all-but devoid of sunspots for not just years at a time,
but for decades:
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC
The onset of the next 400-year Grand Solar Minimum cycle is
now upon us, and the ravaging cold is returning with it.
Modern civilization is not immune from this - far from it - folks
have lost their connection with the earth - the majority of people
wouldn't have the first clue about how to feed themselves should the
grocery store shelves run empty.
Prepare...
grow your own...
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