Maunder Minimum link to the Little Ice Age?

There is still a very poor understanding of the correlation between low sunspot activity and cooling temperatures. During the period 1645–1715, in the middle of the Little Ice Age, there was a period of low solar activity known as the Maunder Minimum.


The Spörer Minimum has also been identified with a significant cooling period between 1460 and 1550. Other indicators of low solar activity during this period are levels of the isotopes carbon-14 and beryllium-10.

On the other hand, in a 2012 paper, Miller et al. link the Little Ice Age to an "unusual 50-year-long episode with four large sulfur-rich explosive eruptions and notes that "large changes in solar irradiance are not required."

What do you think?


More at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/frost-fair-of-london