William Stanley Jevons, probably the world’s first mathematical economist, observed that crop yields declined when sunspots were fewer. That makes sense as the sun’s radiance is crucial for raising plants. Piers Corbyn, one of the world’s best weathermen, has been telling us we are entering a mini Ice Age or Grand Solar Minimum where for some reason the sun produces less solar radiance thus cooling ever so slightly our planet. The most famous cooling period in modern history was called the Maunder Minimum which occurred from 1645 to 1715.
If we study the history and the science of these previous Minimums, what can we expect starting as early as 2019 according to Corbyn?
We are entering a Grand Solar Minimum like the Maunder Minimum when the sun was less active. That meant fewer sunspots and less solar radiance which means we can expect reduced crop yields. Also during a Grand Solar Minimum, the sun blocks fewer cosmic rays (nuclear particles from distant stars). That means the earth receives more cosmic rays which have been linked to an increase in both volcanic activity and earthquakes. Elevated volcanic ash in the atmosphere created our “Year without a summer” in 1816. The immediate cause was a volcano in Indonesia in 1815 which sent an enormous amount of ash into the atmosphere. This blocked the sun during the summer of 1816.
During a GSM, there is more cloud cover and at lower altitudes. This creates weird weather such as, huge and sudden hail storms, heavy rain storms and even droughts.
Crop losses in previous Minimums were severe but our ancestors never had more than 500 million people worldwide in the Maunder Minimum and a billion people in the Dalton Minimum (1780 – 1820). Today we have more than 7.6 billion people so any crop failures will starve human beings to death by the billions. We already are paying more for vanilla beans than for silver due to sudden crop losses in Madagascar. Paying more for vanilla beans is an inconvenience but if history repeats, food shortages could lead to extremely dangerous times.
We can expect severe hail storms and torrential rains. Europe had a great famine in 1315-1317. During the Wolf Minimum (1280-1350), Europe had torrential floods. These European floods were caused by rainstorms coming earlier in the year and dumping far more water. Cold weather complicated harvests. Food prices in England doubled and the price of wheat tripled in France.
There was a series of famines in Asia that forced the Mongols and other Asians to migrate during various Minimums from the 4th to the 16th centuries. Dynasties collapsed due to a lack of food. We can expect much worse to happen now with 7 billion additional mouths to feed. Our future is also complicated by the existence of nuclear weapons and germ warfare.
Let’s discuss cosmic rays. When the sun is less active, the earth appears to receive more cosmic rays which are nuclear particles bombarding the earth at nearly the speed of light. Increased reception of cosmic rays seems to have several bad consequences for humans.
Cosmic rays seem to activate the magma chambers under existing volcanoes. Japanese scientists discovered that most of their major volcanoes occurred during solar minimums even though most of our history occurs during years with normal solar output.
Cosmic rays also increase the frequency and severity of earthquakes.
In 1816 that “year without a summer” was caused by a volcanic eruption at Mt Tambora in Indonesia. Volcanoes send ash into the atmosphere which blocks sunlight. So much ash spewed into the air that people in New England and in Britain had very little sun during the summer of 1816.
Scientists have noticed increased volcanoes and earthquakes during previous Minimums. That could be bad news both for people who live near earthquake fault lines. More volcanoes could also mean severe cases of starvation causing the deaths of a few billion people worldwide. If we have a sufficient number of volcanoes spewing sun blocking ash into the atmosphere, we won’t need one big one like Tambora in 1815.
Increased Cosmic rays also create more clouds (called cloud fractioning). It also lowers the altitude of clouds. Cosmic rays also make for cooler temps in those clouds. This causes unpredictable rain storms and severe hail. Recently, a car dealership in Alabama lost their cars to hail. Historically, the excessive hail and rain storms have cause both crop damage and famines. We can expect the same but on a grander scale. In a previous Minimum an entire village was destroyed by hail.
Piers Corbyn explains in the video below why Global Warming is bunk and why the Jet Stream has become weird and what this means for us. He also tells us what to expect as we enter another Minimum. In the Maunder Minimum Alaska escaped much of the cold the Jet Stream dumped on people in the US and Europe.
You can find more information at the URLs below. The Ice Age Farmer website collects information valuable to people trying to raise crops and livestock in cold climates. You cannot buy enough food to last 20 years and safely store it without either your neighbors or the government finding out what you are doing.
References:
http://wiki.iceagefarmer.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://wiki.iceagefarmer.com/wiki/History
Below is the video in which Piers Corbyn tells us why Global Warming is bunk, why the Jet Stream has gone weird and what we can expect from 2019 on as we enter a Grand Solar Minimum. Warning to Americans: These men are British. They have peculiar mannerisms and speech which can make viewing them difficult for some Americans.
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