Sunspots could soon disappear for decades!

[RavenSEAL]

I could have sworn NASA just released a study that solar activity was going to spike during 2011-2012 that could temporary bring down the world's electric grid, etc etc. Looking for link....

 

[destrekor]

I could have sworn NASA just released a study that solar activity was going to spike during 2011-2012 that could temporary bring down the world's electric grid, etc etc. Looking for link....

From melding all of the discussion I have seen late, the common belief is that the Sun is entering into a low-activity phase, but that the long-term cycle, whereas the short cycle, the 11 year one, is waking the sun up for a potentially nasty, impending peak. It'll kind of be like a "one-last hoorah" deal, one last peak before it begins a rapid decline in total activity that will last far longer than the typical minimum.

The impending peak is far and away more expected, a lot more research has been poured into that side of the sun. The more distant predicted lull is on more shaky ground, the evidence isn't nearly as clear. Both predictions could be wrong, mind you, but the solar maximum/minimum cycle, and the patterns, are a little more understood.

Looking back at the long-cycle charts, it does appear there is a typical burst right before a lengthy low cycle. However, the scientists don't really know if there is a true "long cycle", where it enters into such a dormant period that it brings about a Little Ice Age... at least, not one that is predictable. The 11 year Max/Min cycle is essentially like clockwork, but there hasn't been enough time for us to really observe a predictable multi-century cycle, at least not accurately.

 

[DrPizza]

I love it when people try to deny a link between solar activity and our climates here on Earth.

When the sun is hotter, we are hotter. When the sun is cooler, we are cooler. Maybe that's why it's been getting warmer since the last time the sun was noticably cooler.

Congratulations! You are a genius! I can't believe those damn scientists were so stupid that they didn't think of that and take that into account in their calculations. Yep, must be nothing more than solar activity. Dumb scientists. Amazing that they don't know more than you. You've got it all figured out.
/sarcasm.

 

[Malak]

Sunspots don't exist.

 

[TheVrolok]

I was in Florida this past winter. It was pretty funny. It was like shorts weather and people were wearing parkas and shit.

Natives bust out Parkas when it hits 65 down here. It's crazy. There may have been 2-3 days last winter where I walked outside early morning in shorts/tshirt and thought "Man, it is a bit chilly" and then carried on my way.

 

[magomago]

Sunspots don't exist.

Exactly. They deny the perfection of the static heavens.

 

[Eli]

Sunspots don't exist.

Seriously? What do you propose they should be called, then?

I contend that Malak doesn't exist.

 

[Malak]

Seriously? What do you propose they should be called, then?

I contend that Malak doesn't exist.

I'm in the bible, therefore I exist.

 

[preslove]

Congratulations! You are a genius! I can't believe those damn scientists were so stupid that they didn't think of that and take that into account in their calculations. Yep, must be nothing more than solar activity. Dumb scientists. Amazing that they don't know more than you. You've got it all figured out.
/sarcasm.

Yeah, well, er... .... ... AL GORE IS FAT AND HE HAS A BIG HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (sticks head into ground)

 

[zinfamous]

See: God Exists!

 

[JulesMaximus]

Real estate in SoCal will increase in value!!! Woo Hoo!!!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Congratulations! You are a genius! I can't believe those damn scientists were so stupid that they didn't think of that and take that into account in their calculations. Yep, must be nothing more than solar activity. Dumb scientists. Amazing that they don't know more than you. You've got it all figured out.
/sarcasm.

It is remarkable how cynical many have become. They see everything, as a conspiracy, everyone, as a Grifter.

And all the proclamations they make that refute the top minds in the area, always remind me of a quip by George Burns- "Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair."

 

[silverpig]

I'm against sunspots. If the sun put on some sunscreen and stayed out of the sun a little bit, it wouldn't get these spots so often.

 

[DangerAardvark]

People don't believe in acid rain? I just re-lost the faith in humanity I regained by looking at that Mexican reporter's ass.

 

[zinfamous]

I love it when people try to deny a link between solar activity and our climates here on Earth.

When the sun is hotter, we are hotter. When the sun is cooler, we are cooler. Maybe that's why it's been getting warmer since the last time the sun was noticably cooler.

It appears that you falsely believe that the Sun provides our light, heat, and energy.

I am rational, and know that the only truth is that God provides us light, heat, and energy.

 

[destrekor]

It is remarkable how cynical many have become. They see everything, as a conspiracy, everyone, as a Grifter.

And all the proclamations they make that refute the top minds in the area, always remind me of a quip by George Burns- "Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair."

Oh come on, obviously everybody is out for every individual, regardless of who you are or what you did/do. If you are alive, someone, possibly a large group, is out for you. They want everything you have, and you'll either die or get screwed over terribly if you let it happen. And, of course you figured out some super-secret information that could screw over every individual/member of some group that wants to keep that information secret. Obviously, they want to keep it quiet, and you may possibly stand in the way of their desires.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Natives bust out Parkas when it hits 65 down here. It's crazy. There may have been 2-3 days last winter where I walked outside early morning in shorts/tshirt and thought "Man, it is a bit chilly" and then carried on my way.

+ Wind Chill, which brings down the temp to like the 30s. It's not that its cold, it the fucking freezing sea breeze :\:\:\

 

[Schadenfroh]

Sooooooooo... are we gonna die?

Not if we pump out more greenhouse gases, we need to pollute more!

 

[bfdd]

lol @ people talking about how super hot shit was this summer like their local weather is any indication of a global scale. FYI it's the coldest winter South America has had in fucking a LONG time. It was also an incredibly chilly summer here in Southern California with something like less than a weeks worth of days above 80f in the area I live in(beach city). So ZOMG ITS GETTING COLDER NOW!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

But....global warming!

magnets...how do they work?

 

[ahenkel]

Damn now my satellite provider has to come up with a new excuse when service craps out.

 

[destrekor]

lol @ people talking about how super hot shit was this summer like their local weather is any indication of a global scale. FYI it's the coldest winter South America has had in fucking a LONG time. It was also an incredibly chilly summer here in Southern California with something like less than a weeks worth of days above 80f in the area I live in(beach city). So ZOMG ITS GETTING COLDER NOW!

Hmmm... I seem to remember something, well it's just a theory in climatology, about how a change in one weather pattern can effect local climates all over in the world, and differently depending on how the various patterns driven by fluid dynamics around the globe actually drive any regions local weather conditions.

Oh, wait... yeah, that's actually really, really sound science. You know, just in case anyone was curious.

The way our world is configured right now (land and water surface area and specific locations of the continents), the Earth is actually forced to undergo a true Ice Age.. right now. We are in an ice-age: we have permanent polar ice caps, something that never occurs except when in an ice age. Technically, we are still in the zone between Ice Age and well, no ice age, as we're still climbing out of the previous peak of the Ice Age.

Now, because of our current weather pattern system, it may be more than a few thousand years before the world is permanently ice-free, unless the Sun goes and freaks the fuck out and outputs far more solar energy. Until then, we will have cycles of ice-cap growth and retreat - I don't know how far south it could possibly go, and how much less ice we may see at some points. Solar output will simply interact with weather in small-scale changes, nothing super drastic. The Little Ice Age was not a massive event in terms of ice coverage, for instance, and it is lower solar output (on quite a bit less than 1% change iirc) that sparked that. But there are other local things that may have impacted that too (I believe a glacial lake/dam is theorized to have collapsed, and that could have impacted the salt-belts in the oceans).

And the time in-between the small-scale shifts, local weather patterns may bounce about fairly frequently.
The big confusion is how long this little period of bouncing around will end up lasting, and what the stable weather patterns will look like afterward. How long this fun will last is up in the air, because we don't know how our contributions to the atmosphere will effect the trend.

 

[Squisher]

Sooooooooo... are we gonna die?

[raspy whisper] Let me tell you something kid, we ain't getting out this life alive.[/raspy whisper]

 

[sao123]

waits for liberal activists to raise taxes to set up the "save the sunspots" campaign.