Be prepared for a cold winter - from David Archibald writing at Anthony's:
The sun is as blank as a billiard ball, solar activity dwindling to lows not seen in 200 years
The latest image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows our sun as a blank canvas. No sunspots. Solar cycle 24 activity continues to be lowest in nearly 200 years.
The F10.7 flux has been in a disciplined downtrend for nigh on 18 months now. It is now only nine units above the immutable floor of activity of 64:
Sunspots are a good proxy for total solar output. When we were enduring the Maunder and Dalton Minima, there were no observable sunspots. These were also times of significantly cooler than normal weather.
The F10.7 flux (measured at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory - about 230 miles North of here at Penticton, Canada) is a direct measurement of solar output - the lower it goes, the cooler we get.
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