Billy Burpelson wrote:

What more could they possibly add?
That we may be experiencing the beginning of another "Maunder
Minimum"?
Possibly. All indicators are down not just the sunspots. Time will
tell.

The drop in solar wind is kind of scary.

Hopefully, this will just last another couple of years at most
otherwise we will be spending the rest of our lives going through
another "Maunder Minimum".

dave wrote:

If the solar winds get much weaker we won't be around to worry about
some stupid glaciers.

From Wikipedia:

"Earth itself is largely *protected* [emphasis added] from the solar
wind by its magnetic field, which deflects most of the charged
particles..."

If the solar wind is something we need to be protected from, why would a
-weaker- solar wind put us in danger, as you seem to be implying? (If
the solar wind got -stronger-, more than our magnetosphere could cope
with, yes, then there would be danger).

Please 'splain.

"Although a weakening of the solar wind may not sound very important,
the effects of this reduction will have serious implications,
diminishing the natural defences of the heliopause (our Solar System’s
invisible barrier) which protects us from high energy cosmic rays
blasting through intergalactic space…"

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/09...at-record-low/