Well, there are studies suggesting a link between sunspots and global temperatures. Initially there was no mechanism to explain this link as increases in total solar irradiance cannot explain the increase in temperature.
But now the theory for the mechanism goes something like this:
1) Galactic cosmic rays are able to ionize particles in the atmosphere and this contribute towards cloud formation. i.e. the more galactic cosmic rays gets into the atmosphere, the more particles form, the more clouds form = more cooling due to clouds preventing solar energy from entering earth's terrestrial system. This mechanism was tested by CERN recently. Google the CERN CLOUD experiment.
2)
Neutron monitors measure cosmic ray activity. They have discovered that solar flares that form during sun spots are able to decrease ion formation in the atmosphere due to cosmic ray activity.
Check out this site, it has live monitoring of solar activity. Notice that whenever there is a solar flare and an increase in solar X-ray activity, neutron counts drop. We are also approaching a solar maximum and you can see that the neutron counts drop steadily.
So from here it is argued that the connection between sunspot activity and temperatures (check the maunder minimum or the Dalton minimums that coincides with previous cool periods or the increased solar activity in the 20th century that is accompanied with the increases in global temps) can be explained by cloud formation and galactic cosmic rays.
What makes this theory interesting is that we appear to be entering a phase where sun spot activity is busy decreasing to levels previously associated with the Dalton minimum. So if this theory is correct, we should expect decreases in global temperatures in the coming years (predicted to be 2016 when the next solar minimum kicks in until 2030 and maybe even later).
Nature is carrying out the experiment for us so we live in interesting times...
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