Earth Might Witness 'Mini Ice Age' For Next 30 Years, As The Sun About Hit Its 'Solar Minimum'
Experts have pointed out that the Sun is about to enter a natural ‘hibernation’ and it might lead to food shortages among other things, as temperatures across the planet drop.
A solar minimum is a quiet period in which the Sun released less energy or heat than usual. According to NASA, the ‘Sun will reach its lowest activity in over 200 years in 2020’.
According to Northumbria University expert Valentina Zharkova, this could drop average temperatures to drop upto 1 degree C, in a cold spell lasting 12 months; it might not sound like much but it is quite a significant drop.
"The Sun is approaching a hibernation period. Less sunspots will be formed on the solar surface and thus less energy and radiation will be emitted towards the planets and the Earth." The Sun qoted Professor Zharkova, who has published multiple scientific papers on solar minimums, as saying.
Even though solar minimums are a part of Sun’s natural life cycle every 11 years, 2020’s minimum might be especially chilly as it is the start of an event known as a Grand Solar Minimum, in which energy emitted from the Sun drops even more than usual. This event occurs every 400 years or so.
According toThe Sun, Professor Zharkova warned icy spells and wet summers could persist until solar activity picks up again in 2053. She cited chills in Canada and Iceland as evidence of the Grand Solar Minimum (GSM) already taking hold.
The last GSM according to the report was the Maunder Minimum, which lasted from 1645 to 1715.
Well, it's time to brace yourselves, hardcore winter is coming.