Next Ice age in five years!

What if the world froze over In five years? Are you prepared for such an event? Is there any reason to believe that there is going to be another Ice Age when some people say the planet is warming up? Explore some of the fact and fiction here in this quick article.
 
Is it possible that we will have the next Ice Age in five years? The scientists are mulling over the possibilities of this. Meteorologists and some who call themselves climate scientists have been at each other's throats lately. Some are looking to the Sun cycles to predict what is going to happen to the Earth's temperature in the next few years. Some are looking to history to predict what the weather is going to be like. For the rest of us, we can only step back and listen while the professionals fight it out.

Two years ago, scientists were reporting that the Sun may be returning to a state of low magnetic activity. This was published in the American Geophysical Union's journal "Eos". The solar cycles, characterized by "solar irradiance", have had predictable patterns. They ebb and flow every 11 years or so. But there are periods of time when solar cycles do not follow their regular pattern. One was called the "Maunder Minimum", a time period that ran roughly between 1645 and 1715. During this time there were hardly any sunspots and therefore little solar magnetic influence on the Earth. We are apparently in a time period similar to the "Maunder Minimum", in that there are very few sunspots in this cycle. At the same time, the unexpected can still occur and sunspots could start appearing with a vengeance. This may create havoc on the Earth as well, since solar flares and magnetic storms would interrupt cell towers. In the digital world that we have created, where we trust in the internet and mobile phones, magnetic storms are now big enemies of mankind.
 
Do the lack of sunspots mean a cooler Earth or possibly an Ice Age? Not necessarily. We see that there are other things to include in the mix. Some believe that oceans have a large impact on the temperature of the Earth. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) plus the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) are cycles in the temperatures of those same oceans. It is only recently that scientists are recognizing the influence of these forces on the temperature. They have prepared models and graphs. Of course, the IPCC did the same thing and were found out to be forming the data to their suppositions. Some say the data collection and scientific methods employed were "unsound". So, who do you believe?  
 
In a 1992 Conference in Dubai, many scientists sat down to discuss data about sunspots and global temperature. Sunspot cycles seemed to match with increases in world temperature. Since this is still new research there is not much experience in the world of science concerning sunspot data. These facts spurred others on to do their own research. Some started measuring the amount of sunspots on their own, comparing the data with the relative temperature. A University of Wyomng study connects the "Little Ice Age" of 1450 to 1820 with the previously mentioned Maunder minima and Dalton minima. During this time sunspots decreased in activity, delivering less energy to the Earth's atmosphere. Less energy causes the world temperature to decrease. When sunspots increase, the level of energy delivered to the Earth's atmosphere increases, which helps to increase world temperature.

There is much talk about the human input as to what may cause the next Ice Age in five years. A Geophysicist by the name of Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner is predicting one by the middle of this century. That is a big difference from five years from now. It is also the opposite of the conclusions derived from the debunked IPCC. While the human input is not negated, it is a small effect, and not to be given much weight. One of the more important inputs to world temperature is cloud cover. More clouds equal lesser heat on the Earth, less equals more heat energy on the Earth. The effect of the Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) change is unmistakable. The journal of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics has found last year that Galactic Cosmic Rays are connected to world climate change.  
 
Stephen Hawking has claimed that the universe is too complicated for science to figure out. Some will agree, but there is plenty of known evidence to back up a new era of cooling on the Earth. Data, as usual, is still being created and debated in the camp of science.

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