Monday, July 13, 2009

Deep Solar Minimum

In 2008 there were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days. Sun spot counts for 2009 dropped even lower, on average. By March 2009 there had been no sunspots on 78 of the 90 days. Science Daily

"This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. Measurements by the Ulysses spacecraft reveal a 20% drop in solar wind pressure since the mid-1990s—the lowest point since such measurements began in the 1960s. A 12-year low in solar "irradiance": Careful measurements by several NASA spacecraft show that the sun's brightness has dropped by 0.02% at visible wavelengths and 6% at extreme UV wavelengths since the solar minimum of 1996. Deep Solar Minimum

The Little Ice Age was a period of cooling occurring after a warmer North Atlantic era known as the Medieval Warm Period. Among the earliest references to the climate change is an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles dated 1046: "And in this same year after the 2nd of February came the severe winter with frost and snow, and with all kinds of bad weather, so that there was no man alive who could remember so severe a winter as that, both through mortality of men and disease of cattle; both birds and fishes perished through the great cold and hunger.

Lima - July 12 2009 - Children die in harsh Peru winter. The winter does not usually start until June. This year the intense cold began in March. "The extreme cold, which has brought snow, hail, freezing temperatures and strong winds, has killed more children than recorded annually for the past four years." BBC News

Is the Earth's climate getting colder while it gets warmer? Ice Age Now

The Antartic Deep Sea is getting Colder... Chilling new evidence from the Atlantic Ocean is raising fears that western Europe could soon be gripped by a mini ice age. "Mini Ice Age" May Be Coming Soon, Sea Study Warns. National Geographic

I don't know! From my own observations we are experiencing a see-saw climate. This may have nothing to do with physical-material dimensions, but may be a side-effect of interdimensional forces we currently know nothing about.

A few years ago I was visiting a Glacier friend of mine high in the mountains of Austria. The year before the Glacier was there in all its glory looking cold, mean and white. Then the next year it was gone. I arrived with all my cold gear and I had to change into a T-shirt and shorts, it was so warm up there. Naturally, I assumed that the climate was getting warmer.

Well! No! This year I arrived in the mountains of Switzerland at the end of June, 2009 and it was cold. In previous years the same location had appeared to be getting warmer with snow completely melted from the high mountains. During my visit I woke up on a pretty cool morning to lots of fresh snowfall on those same high mountains.

From what I have experienced it seems to be both warmer and colder. The temperature fluctuations are wider, more volatile, more extreme and changes can be sudden. Maybe you can add the word challenging.

Perhaps we are facing an inconvenient challenge '- )