Lately the sun has been going through a bit of a quit period. These episodes historically have resulted in the cooling of the earth and what we aptly call a mini ice age. So what happens when mini ice age meets global warming? Nothing good.

Scientists argue that the relationship between the sun's inactivity and global cooling may result from the swelling and shrinking of the earth's atmosphere.This same phenomenon also effects the orbits of satellites and space junk. As the atmosphere becomes cooler it changes the density of the atmospheric layer. This change in density may cause satellites and junk found in this area to sink to lower altitudes.

Scientists now are trying to better understand the earth's thermosphere or the place where the sun first interacts with our atmosphere. Over the last 11-years solar cycle this area has been responding dramatically, resulting in intense cooling in some parts.

These results present potentially life concerning issue resulting in how the effects of global warming and CO2 emissions will have when paired with the sun's inactivity. While intuitively it may seem that CO2 should counteract the current oncoming ice age and kinda balance out temperatures. It would be wrong to think that way. CO2 emissions will actually cool these areas further because carbon dioxide causes warming in the lowest part of the atmosphere and cooling in the upper layers of the atmosphere. However so little is known about this thermosphere that until now we are only beginning to understand the consequences of the interaction of other systems not just the lower atmospheric layers.

Tags: global warming, atmosphere, CO2, mini ice age,