Amid global warming concerns, researchers have expressed worries for global cooling that is likely to freeze the Thames. The researchers have to say that a mini ice age is looming over Britain as the Sun's solar cycle suggests so.

The researchers have learnt through a computer model of solar activity that a drop of 60% will be seen in solar activity in the 2030s. The conditions will be comparable to the mini ice age which impacted Britain in 1645.

Professor Valentina Zharkova says the theory has originated from a new interpretation of the sun's cycles and has a high likelihood to be true. Prof. Zharkova presented the findings at the National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno.

Magnetic wave components were found appearing in pairs. They originated in two different layers in the sun's interior. Over a cycle lasting about 11 years, the two waves move around the sun. Zharkova thinks that in the year 2030, "the two waves will exactly mirror each other - peaking at the same time but in opposite hemispheres of the Sun. Their interaction will be disruptive, or they will nearly cancel each other".

Zharkova said strong solar activity takes place when the waves are approximately in phase and show strong interaction or resonance. Solar minimums, on the other hand, occur when they are out of phase. The conditions last seen during the Maunder minimum, 370 years ago, occur when there is full phase separation. Those who debate global warming would certainly find Maunder minimums interesting.