The study originated at Northumbira University and was conducted by Professor Vlentina Zharkova. In a meeting of the National Astronony in Llandudno, Wales, Professor Zharkova presented findings about the solar activity that he claims will provide "greater accuracy" in predicting solar cycles and that her model shows that activity will drop by 50% between 2030 and 2040, bringing frigidity to the globe.
Prior research suggested that a turbine system of fluid in motion was responsible for solar activity, but Zharkova's team of researchers discovered "fluctuating magnetic waves" in two distinct layers of the sun. Using these two waves for baseline data, Zharkova says predictions are now "far more accurate."

"By combining the waves together and making comparisons to real data for the solar cycle, we found that our predictions showed a 97 percent accuracy." said Zharkova in finding published by the Royal Astronomic Society.

Based on these finding the team created a methodology that measures solar activity throughout sun cycles and discovered that a "prolonged period of solar dormancy" will earmark cycles 25-26, creating the lower temperatures that could support the "mini-ice age" phenomenon.

"The two waves will mirror each other in cycle 26 -peaking in equal time but in opposite hemispheres of the Sun." The waves will almost completely cancel each other out leading to what Zharkova describes as a "Maunder minimum."

Maunder Minimum is a title used to describe periods when sunspots are rare. It has been hundreds of years since this has occurred - between 1645 and 1715, when over 50 sunspots were recorded. Standard sun spot activity approaches 40,000 so the reduced activity during the 17th and early 18th centuries correspond to a time of harsh, water freezing temperatures in Europe and North America.