Relevant

4 Jan 2011:  Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu of the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, has published a paper in the Journal of Natural Science titled "On the recovery from the Little Ice Age." Dr. Akasofu demonstrates that the global warming of the 20th Century is well explained by a combination of a recovery from the Little Ice Age and natural cycles of Earth, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.

Dr. Akasofu concludes and predicts:

1) The Earth experienced the Little Ice Age (LIA) between 1200-1400 and 1800-1850. The temperature during the LIA is expected to be 1 degree C lower than the present temperature. The solar irradiance was relatively low during the LIA.
2) The gradual recovery from 1800-1850 was approximately linear, the recovery (warming) rate was about 0.5 degrees C/100 years. The same linear change continued from 1800-1850 to 2000. In this period, the solar irradiance began to recover from its low value during the LIA.
3) The recovery from the LIA is still continuing today.
4) The multi-decadal oscillation is superposed on the linear change. The multi-decadal oscillation peaked in about 1940 and also in 2000, causing the temporal halting of the recovery from the LIA.
5) The negative trend after the peak in 1940 and 2000 overwhelmed the linear trend of the recovery, causing the cooling or halting of warming.
6) The view presented in this paper predicts the temperature increase in 2100 to be 0.5 degrees C +/- 0.2 degrees C, rather than 4 degrees C +/- 2.0 degrees C predicted by the IPCC.

See the article here.