What's next -- an ice age?

The absence of sunspots has left some scientists scratching their heads about what could be next.

Extremely low sunspot activity and extended periods of no sunspot activity have some scientists wondering how this could affect the weather on Earth. Noted environmentalist and author Lawrence Solomon says there is a vast historical record dating back hundreds of years that could provide some insight to this phenomenon. "There has been a coincidence over the centuries of an absence of sunspots correlating with very cold temperatures, and a presence of sunspots corresponding to warm periods," he explains. Solomon notes that over 1,000 years ago during the medieval warm period there was increased sunspot activity, and then that activity slowed down as Earth entered the Little Ice Age of the late 1700s to mid-1800s. He also says that, during the last century, the sun had increased sunspot activity, which correlated with a period of warming. "After the current warming that we had in the 1900s, the sunspots have diminished. And that's one reason that scientists think that we may be entering a little ice age. There are other reasons as well," Solomon contends. Those other reasons are that in the last decade temperatures have leveled off, and Solomon says in the last year they dropped. He says temperatures have dropped by more than a half a degree centigrade, which is equivalent to more than a century's worth of warming.