Whatever else goes on, the Sun will be cooling the Earth for the next 50 years, according to Prof. Valentina Zharkova. The mechanism is somewhat roundabout. In 2020 the Sun began a period of reduced activity called a Grand Solar Minimum. During such periods, the Sun’s magnetic field weakens such that all the planets in the solar system become exposed to higher levels of cosmic radiation. On Earth the increase in “cosmic rays” will induce greater cloud formation. The planet will cool, changing weather patterns and disrupting agriculture.
If the prediction is true, it is the biggest imaginable challenge to our assumptions about climate change. It would mean, for example, that instead of converting to renewable energy sources, we should be investing in stable energy sources that will be reliable during the cold years.
As you’d expect, Zharkova’s hypothesis has critics. Her research, technically, predicts only the GSM, whereas the specific impacts of a GSM on climate are merely speculation. Thus, the two major criticisms are a) Zharkova’s GSM prediction may be flawed, and b) her speculations about climate impacts may be unrealistic.
Direct observation should help to resolve both areas of controversy fairly soon, at least within the life spans of today’s children. But the issues are not merely academic. Long before our children reach retirement age humanity will know whether our planning for the future took the best direction.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Another perspective on the veracity of Zharkova’s predictions.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/jan/09/the-imminent-mini-ice-age-myth-is-back-and-its-still-wrong
“Zharkova believes her solar model is correct, but at best it can only try to predict when the next quiet solar pe riod will occur. Its influence on Earth’s climate is outside her expertise, and the peer-reviewed research is clear that it would be a minimal impact.”
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…”is outside her expertise,”…
There seems to be a LOT of that in JTR’s links. This ain’t the first and won’t be the last.
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RE: “Another perspective on the veracity of Zharkova’s predictions…”
I read the Guardian piece, among others, before posting. The background they provided is why I pointed out that criticisms of Zharkova’s hypothesis exist.
The thing to grasp is that her GSM prediction — published in 2012(?) appears to be supported in some respects by recent observations of solar activity. Moreover, no one I could find doubts that the GSM prediction is derived validly from the analysis she performed; instead, there are doubts as to whether solar activity is predictable at all.
Zharkova’s credibility among her peers in the solar physics community remains high, and she freely admits that she is not qualified to make climate predictions. She has, however, made them informally during discussions of her research and in statements to the media as a way of illustrating the significance of her GSM finding.
Hence, the issues related to her work are exactly as presented in the post: We are awaiting confirmatory proof of a GSM that the next 50 years will provide, and if GSM induces a period of significant cold, we are betting wrong about global warming.
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Nutacelli is famous for slaying straw men.
Note that he does not address her hypothesis at all. He accesses the effect of a solar minimum based on solar irradiance alone.
The mechanism Zharkova asserts is cosmic ray seeding of high level clouds resulting from a reduction in the solar wind.
I do not know if Zharkova is right or not, but the refutation provided doesn’t even address the topic.
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Climate aside, the true dark years ahead are any with B**** and H***** in the Whitehouse.
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Boehner and Hastert?
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Don’t worry. All those phony militia gangs like the oath keepers, yellow bellies (sorry, p boys), boogaloo “bois” with Margaritaville tourist shirts, 1,2,3 and whatever “percenters” and other assorted pond scum will line up behind you for action. A regular loser legion.
When they get out of prison. Along with the ex-president flim flam man.
Of course, don’t turn around, because they might all be gone. Their speciality is beating and killing police and that might just bite them in the butt.
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It must really smell in your neighborhood as the toxins in your soil destroy your brain. Kind of funny though but don’t give up the day job.
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Sorry, I didn’t realize you might be a gang member.
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It is White House. Two words, not one.
The post is completely off topic.
Funny how you accuse others of toxicity when it you that spread it like fertilizer on a soy bean farm.
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I once heard a scientist, biologist, put forth a wonderful theory on man. Briefly, she theorized that man, for a time in his evolution, was a shallow water aquatic ape, much like a sea otter, or similar mammal. She then laid out her observations to support her theory. Relative to other apes, man’s hips are turned, rotated, to the spine similar to otters, seals, whales, etc., to provide propulsion in water. Our noses are downturned to allow us to have our eyes above the surface and still keep water out. We, like porpoises, have no hair and a subcutaneous fat layer, not found in other apes, to provide insulation needed in water. We have a penchant for fish, and other sea foods.
The list really was extensive.
She then finished it up with a statement akin to “But of course, this is all preposterous since the fossil record shows all of these features developing on dry land, i.e, our ancestors bones are always found in conjunction with land mammals and not with aquatic life forms.”
The whole point of her 30+ minute lecture was that if you ignore evidence, pick and choose carefully, you can come up with anything.
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There’s a link in the source to a video that explains how Zharkova derived her GSM prediction: Does her method in any way sound like the short story you tell?
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