Open AccessA modern Maunder Minimum would not stave off global warming
Author(s) -
Schultz Colin
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1002/2013eo310008
Subject(s) - sunspot , solar irradiance , atmospheric sciences , solar minimum , environmental science , climatology , irradiance , sunspot number , meteorology , physics , geology , solar cycle , optics , magnetic field , solar wind , quantum mechanics
Roughly every 11 years, the Sun's activity swings, a peak‐to‐peak oscillation in the presence of sunspots on the solar surface. From around 1645 to 1715, however, researchers think that this largely reliable trend in solar activity stalled. Now known as the Maunder Minimum, the period saw not just a prolonged dearth of sunspot activity but also a likely reduction in the output of energy from the Sun. Researchers estimate that the Maunder Minimum could have caused a reduction in solar irradiance of around 0.01% to 0.25%, a shift that contributed to a drop of globally averaged surface air temperature of a few tenths of a degree.