A New Study Claims Sun Could “Go to Sleep” in 2030
Researchers claimed that a "mini ice age" could be waiting for the Earth in 2020, when solar cycles cancel each other out and cause a phenomenon known as the "Maunder minimum."
The Maunder minimum, which was observed between years the 1645 and 1715, is the name of the period when it was increasingly rare to observe sunspots. The phenomenon caused the Thames River of London to freeze. Some researchers even claim that it was the Maunder minimum that gave world-known Stradivarius instruments their dense wood structure, during the "mini ice age" when the trees could only grow slowly. The creator of Stradivarius instruments was born right before the Maunder Minimum started, The Daily Mail reported.
The new model of the Sun's solar cycle, which is capable of making precise predictions about the Sun's movements, facilitated the scientists' ability to observe its 11-year cycle in detail as well as to catch any irregularities.
According to such predictions, by 2030 solar activity of the Sun could be reduced to 40 percent of its current activity, which creates climate conditions similar to an "ice age," just like the one started in 1645 and lasted through 1715.
The Daily Mail reported that Prof Valentina Zharkova, who presented the results of the study at the National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, said that two cycles of the Sun will interact with each other, which will cause irregularities. "Their interaction will be disruptive, or they will nearly cancel each other. We predict that this will lead to the properties of a "Maunder minimum," he said.
Scientists predict that the mechanism behind such phenomenon involves the Sun's magnetic waves within its superficial layers, in addition to the convecting fluid in its deeper layers. Zharkova said, "We found magnetic wave components appearing in pairs, originating in two different layers in the Sun's interior. They both have frequency of approximately 11 years, although this frequency is slightly different, and they are offset in time," reported by Daily Mail.
