Ice on the HudsonAfficionados of the "ice age now" hypothesis are going to be cock-a-hoop over Paul Hudson's latest blog post. The BBC man has been looking into the idea that the current very low levels of activity in the sun are going to cause us all to freeze and he seems to have found some support in the somewhat unlikely shape of Mike Lockwood:
I’ve been to see Professor Mike Lockwood to take a look at the work he has been conducting into the possible link between solar activity and climate patterns.
According to Professor Lockwood the late 20th century was a period when the sun was unusually active and a so called ‘grand maximum’ occurred around 1985.
Since then the sun has been getting quieter.
By looking back at certain isotopes in ice cores, he has been able to determine how active the sun has been over thousands of years.
Following analysis of the data, Professor Lockwood believes solar activity is now falling more rapidly than at any time in the last 10,000 years.