Don't Expect a Grand Solar Minimum to Save Us From Global Warming

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/dont-expect-a-grand-solar-minimum-to-save-us-from-global-warming.html

Mat McDermott
Science / Natural Sciences
March 11, 2010

Even if the sun entered a Grand Solar Minimum--like the one experienced in the late 17th century known as the Maunder Minimum, which brought about the Little Ice Age--it would still only offset less than a tenth of the warming caused by human release of greenhouse gases. That's the word from a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, published in Geophysical Research Letters.After running three simulations with and without a Grand Minimum occurring, report co-author Stefan Ramsdorf concluded,

Most likely, a new Grand Minimum of solar activity would diminish global mean temperatures in the year 2100 by about 0.1 or 0.2 degrees Celsius. A new Maunder-type solar activity minimum cannot offset the global warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, any offset in temperatures would ultimately be temporary, lasting the typical length of solar minima, several decades to a century at the most.