Space scientist fears return of ‘mini ice age’
The fewer sunspot activities on the Sun witnessed since the last two solar cycles might lead to a "mini ice age-like situation" in coming years, Shrinivas Aundhkar, the director of Mahatma Gandhi Mission, Centre for Astronomy and Space Technology, Nanded, said...'the minimum activity was seen for more than four years in the recently concluded solar cycle. Thus, it was the longest and quietest minimum phase in the past 100 years," the scientist said.
"The Earth may be heading towards a mini-ice age period, which is similar to what was observed in the 17th century. During the time, the sunspots on the Sun were absent. This led to a drop in northern hemisphere temperature by 2-3 degrees. The current scenario is almost same. Such climatic conditions might affect the agricultural pattern and health and trigger disasters in the worst scenario," he added.
