An important new paper by Dr David Whitehouse for the Global Warming Policy Foundation reveals that 2019 was mostly without sunspots. For a long period, the Sun was spot-free for 90% of the time, making the period of minimum activity at the end of Solar Cycle 24* and the beginning of Cycle 25 one of the deepest solar minima ever observed. Understanding the 11-year solar cycle is important, not just for the science of the Sun, but also for appreciating and predicting its influence on Earth and its climate. This paper discusses some of these issues.

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