An interesting post over on Watts Up With That? about the declining magnetic field strength of the sun's “spots”. Note that the vertical axis (magnetic field strength in gauss) is exagerated by crossing the X axis at 1800 instead of 0. But still, the downward slope is clear enough.The article speculates that if and when the field strength dips below about 1300 gauss, the sun's spots will become invisible. No big loss there, but there are other consequences: slightly lower solar luminance and more cosmic rays striking our atmosphere (and therefore easier cloud formation, and therefore cooler climate).
In other words, this looks like an influence on our climate that is in the opposite direction of global warming. A considerable body of climatologists believe that solor cycles like these, combined with details of the earth's orbit (its elliptical shape, precession and other “wobbles”, etc.), are the primary drivers behind historical ice ages.
Hmmm....
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