The Sun Is Asleep. Deep 'Solar Minimum' Feared As 2020 Sees Record-Setting 100-Day Slump

[Judi Lynn]

May 12, 2020,10:00pm EDT

Jamie Carter

While we on Earth suffer from coronavirus, our star—the Sun—is having a lockdown all of its own. Spaceweather.com reports that already there have been 100 days in 2020 when our Sun has displayed zero sunspots.

That makes 2020 the second consecutive year of a record-setting low number of sunspots— which you can see (a complete absence of) here.

“This is a sign that solar minimum is underway,” reads SpaceWeather.com. “So far this year, the Sun has been blank 76% of the time, a rate surpassed only once before in the Space Age. Last year, 2019, the Sun was blank 77% of the time. Two consecutive years of record-setting spotlessness adds up to a very deep solar minimum, indeed.”

What does all of this mean? Here’s everything you need to know about the Sun, the solar cycle, and what a deep solar minimum means for us.

More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/05/12/the-sun-is-asleep-deep-solar-minimum-feared-as-2020-sees-record-setting-100-day-slump/#4e56613a5e28

[NickB79]

1. And yet we're on track for the hottest year on record

Wonder if this will finally put a nail in the coffin for those "solar activity causes global warming" deniers.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. This refers to sunspot activity, not the heat put out by the sun.

[NickB79]

3. Deniers love talking about solar minimums

They wrongly associate the Maunder Solar Minimum with the Little Ice Age, even though research has linked it to volcanic eruptions.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. I can't see anything in the article about "fear", despite the headline

There's nothing that I can find in it about negative consequences of a long minimum. Any ideas? Or was it just a sub-editor looking for a bit of hype?