Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Solar Activity, Cosmic Rays, & Global Warming



Global warming alarmists have grown quite fond of devaluing the correlation of solar activity on earth’s temperature. In the 1972 World Book Science Annual, Dr. Reid A. Bryson, Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, and Dr. John E. Ross, the Associate Director, wrote, “The sun is the source of all climatic effects.” (p. 96) More recently published studies continue to validate this statement. In fact, a body of research empirically demonstrates correlations between earth’s temperatures and cosmic ray fluctuations from other stars in our galaxy in addition to the sun.

Results of studies by Henrik Svensmark and others of the Danish National Space Center and of the Institute of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, links solar activity, cosmic rays, cloud and water vapor formations, and temperature variations. In a nutshell, increased solar activity suppresses cosmic ray penetration of the atmosphere which reduces available low cloud condensation nuclei. This sequence of events increases clear sky, incoming radiation, and the greenhouse effect from gaseous water vapor. The result is terrestrial warming. When solar activity decreases, the reverse effects result in cooling. (Svensmark, et. al., “Experimental evidence for the role of ions in particle nucleation under atmospheric conditions,” Proceedings of the Royal Society A)

Readers will note that the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, a journal of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, also publishes articles of studies demonstrating that the sun is not a factor in current climate change. I think that this demonstrates that current research concerning the correlation of solar activity and climate change remains a valid topic of scientific study. To cavalierly dismiss empirical studies of the impact of solar activity on climate change is counterproductive and has no scientific merit.


(Photo: Composite image of multiple solar flares on the sun, NASA)

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