“Earth facing mini-ice age!!” say the media. Now for the science….

Potholer54 is at it again:

Sceptical Science provides us with a nice graph that explains all of this in detail:

And Real Climate sums it up:

According to these results, a 21st-century Maunder Minimum would only slightly diminish future warming. Moreover, it would be only a temporary effect since all known grand solar minima have only lasted for a few decades… Furthermore, even if one multiplied the solar effects by a huge factor of 5 (which is unrealistic), no absolute cooling would take place (the temperatures would be temporarily cooler than the base scenario, but the trends would still be warming).

It is clear that if a grand minimum were to happen it would be a tremendously exciting opportunity for solar physicists, however it is unlikely to be very exciting for anyone else.

Bottom line: Whatever the sun decides to do, planet earth will continue to warm.