Mini ‘ice-age’ on way as sun set to go into ‘hibernation’ by 2030

A decade-long mini ice-age is just around the corner according to scientists because the solar activity in the sun is considerably slowing down.

A mini ice-age which will last for a decade is set to arrive by 2030 according to British scientists Image by John / CC BY-SA 2.0

The European research team predict that the earth will be hit with this freezing one-year span sometime between 2030-40.

The earth will experience its coldest prolonged snap since the 1600s by 2030 Image by Pete Seaward/Lonely Planet / CC BY 2.0

The Daily Express claim such conclusions fly in the face of environmental supporters who say that within 15 years, we may be facing flooding and higher sea levels because of melting glaciers at the poles.

Professor Valentina Zharkova at the National Astronomy Meeting in Wales says that changes in the eleven-year cycle of solar activity in the sun would result in the worst freeze we have experienced since the 1600s. At that time global temperatures decreased because of low solar activity resulting in a 70-year ice age – called the Maunder Minimum – which was responsible for the River Thames completely freezing over.

The development by scientists of a “double dynamo” model means they can predict much more accurately when the next big freeze will be. Professor Zharkova has calculated with her team that by 2030, the two magnetic waves will cancel each other out. This would lead to a drop by about 60% in sun spots and solar flares. When this happens, she added, it would create the properties of a “Maunder Minimum.’ She said: “In cycle 26, the two waves exactly mirror each other, peaking at the same time but in opposite hemispheres of the Sun. We predict that this will lead to the properties of another ‘Maunder minimum.”