The Sun's behaviour is causing puzzlement - not for the first time. It's northern hemisphere seems to have reached peak output for the current cycle whilst the southern may not do so till 2014. Very odd.
Some scientists think these oddities presage a reduction in solar output such as the Maunder Minimum (1645 to 1715) which caused the Little Ice Age. Others doubt this. No-one is sure.
The Little Ice Age was 0.3 to 0.7 degrees Celsius cooler than later times - enough to offset a large fraction of the global warming we have already experienced. A new cool period would therefore buy us valuable time to deal with climate change.
Unhappily the scientific uncertainty won't be resolved until long after we have to fix our problem. This is not a good excuse for inaction.
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