New Maunder Minimum Coming?

Timothy Birdnow

The U.K. Register warns of a new Little Ice Age.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/ice_age/

From the article:

"The announcement made on 14 June (18:00 UK time) comes from scientists at the US National Solar Observatory (NSO) and US Air Force Research Laboratory. Three different analyses of the Sun's recent behaviour all indicate that a period of unusually low solar activity may be about to begin."

[...]

This could have major implications for the Earth's climate. According to a statement issued by the NSO, announcing the research:

An immediate question is whether this slowdown presages a second Maunder Minimum, a 70-year period with virtually no sunspots [which occurred] during 1645-1715.
As NASA notes:

Early records of sunspots indicate that the Sun went through a period of inactivity in the late 17th century. Very few sunspots were seen on the Sun from about 1645 to 1715. Although the observations were not as extensive as in later years, the Sun was in fact well observed during this time and this lack of sunspots is well documented. This period of solar inactivity also corresponds to a climatic period called the "Little Ice Age" when rivers that are normally ice-free froze and snow fields remained year-round at lower altitudes. There is evidence that the Sun has had similar periods of inactivity in the more distant past.
During the Maunder Minimum and for periods either side of it, many European rivers which are ice-free today – including the Thames – routinely froze over, allowing ice skating and even for armies to march across them in some cases.

"This is highly unusual and unexpected," says Dr Frank Hill of the NSO. "But the fact that three completely different views of the Sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation."

End excerpts.

So, three seperate studies suggest a new Maunder Minimum may be coming. Not a much weaker Dalton, but an actual repeat of the Maunder, which gave us the Little Ice Age. (It could be argued that the LIA spurred the development of industrial society because new ways had to be found to heat homes in the long, cold winters. It most certainly was horrible; the bitter winter at Valley Forge gives all Americans an idea of how much cooler it was during that time than now, and there was ice skating on the Hudson river back then.

One thing is for certain if this is true - Global Warming is finis. Stock up on heating oil, folks - if the environmentalists will let us continue to burn it.