In a recent paper [M. A. J. H. Ossendrijver, A&A 359, 364 (2000)] numerical simulations of a 2D mean-field model where shown to produce grand minima, typical of the long-term behavior of solar magnetic activity. The model consisted of dynamo that features an α effect based on the buoyancy instability of magnetic fluxtubes, which gives rise to the switching back and forth from grand minima to "regular" solar behavior. In this Letter, we report evidence from a time-series analysis of the model for the presence of crisis-induced intermittency due to attractor-widening. We support this finding by showing that the average duration of the minima, τ , follows the theoretically predicted scaling τ ∼ (C δα − C * δα )−γ , where C δα is the bifurcation parameter of interest, together with other statistical evidence. As far as we are aware, this is the first time concrete and detailed evidence has been produced for the occurrence of this type of crisis-induced intermittency -due to attractor widening -for such dynamo models.The records of past solar magnetic activity reveal an outstanding phenomenon referred to as grand minima. During the latest of such intervals, the so-called Maunder minimum (1645-1715), sunspots were virtually absent. This and earlier grand minima are clearly visible in the records of cosmogenic isotopes, e.g.14 C and 10 Be [2]). Timing and duration of the known grand minima are irregular. Solar variability is also apparent e.g. in length and amplitude variations of the 11-year sunspot cycle. The spectral and statistical properties of solar variability are still not well-known. Although there is some evidence for various modulations of the solar cycle [3], it remains unclear, due to the lack of a sufficiently long and accurate data set, whether they are truly periodic rather than chaotic or even purely stochastic [4].Intermittency has been proposed [5] as one of the possible scenarios for the underlying mechanism behind the occurrence of grand minima. Several dynamo models have been show to exhibit quasiperiodic or chaotic intermittent behavior [6]. In [1] a case was made for a stochastically driven 2D mean-field dynamo model showing grand minima [7]. Earlier, the authors in [8] produced grand minima using a 1D model, in which the flux injections were treated as an additive random source term. The main advantage of a 2D model is that the radial structure is resolved, so that the flux injections can be treated more realistically through the advection term. Of course, mean-field theory cannot replace full MHD calculations [9] and is at best capable of capturing the most important aspects of solar dynamo action. The purpose of the calculations was to illustrate that grand minima are an inherent feature of a solar dynamo based on magnetic flux tubes.In this Letter, we show concrete evidence that the switching back and forth from grand minima to the "regular" 22-year cycle is a manifestation of a known dynamical process called attractor-widening, resulting in crisis-induced intermittency [10]. This type of in...