Great write-up last week over on watchers.news:
Data provided by the students of Earth to Sky Calculus and Dr. Tony Phillips of SpaceWeather.com show cosmic ray levels are intensifying, as the Solar Minimum approaches, with an approximately 13% increase since March 2015.
In a study published September 17, 2015, A. C. Maycock et al. examined the potential climate impacts of the onset of an extreme “Maunder Minimum-like” grand solar minimum using a comprehensive global climate model. The results show that a large decline in solar activity over the 21st century could have important impacts on the stratosphere and regional surface climate. “Given the fundamental role of solar energy in the climate system, a period of low solar activity may have important ramifications for the state of both the stratosphere and troposphere, and it is these aspects which are the focus of this study,” the authors write. “It has been found, for example, that colder UK winters tend to occur more frequently during periods of low solar activity.”
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See the full article.