Explain the impact of the Maunder Minimum on global climate.

Question

anonymous · Answer

Well, nobody is quite sure, but it strangely coincides with the "Little Ice Age" in Europe, a historical period of unusually cool weather.  There are those who suspect a connection, but the mechanism is unclear. Why would the Sun's magnetic field have anything to do with the Earth's weather?

One argument I've heard is that a weak field (as happens when sunspots are absent) fails to deflect as many cosmic rays, and cosmic rays are a significant source of cloud seeding and precipitation.  Without that, the clouds persist, the albedo of the Earth goes up, and the Earth cools.  That's a pretty long chain of logic, so for it to be taken seriously someone would have to do some experimental verification at several steps.