1. Known: The sunspot cycle most commonly referred to is an 11 year cyle of solar acticity. If you plot the sunspot numbers then over time the cycle appears nearly sinusoidal.
2. Known: During active solar periods, high sunspot counts, solar winds increase.
3. Known: TSI has about a 3% vaience (normally) between the peaks and troughs of teh solar cycle.
4. Known: The mix of UV IR and otehr wavelengths of light change much more dramaticly than the 3% variation in TSI. sunspots are big sources of IR. High periods of solar activity have much hgher concentrations of IR light.
5. Known: IR converts VERY readily to heat.
6. Known: Solar winds keep cosmic rays out of our inner system. Weak solar winds allow more in, strong solar winds keep more out. Strong periods of sunspot activity = strong solar winds. Weak periods of solar activity = weak soalr winds.
7. Known: Cosmic rays have been shown to create, in earths upper atmosphere, the nucleii of rain drops and clouds.
8. Believed: High levels of cosmic rays mean higher concentations of could cover in the upper atmosphere.
9. Known/Believed: Clouds are a net negative feedback to the earths climate. Higher numbers/concentrations of clouds mean cooler weather on earth.
10. Noticed: Climatic shifts on earth correlate fairly well with solar sunspot activity.
11. Known: Higher periods of sunspot activity indicate strong EM flux strength on the surface of the sun.
12. Known: Earths magnetosphere and magnetic field strength fluctuates in sympathy with the suns EM flux strength.
13. Know: The earths magnetosphere and magnetic field keep cosmic radiation from reaching the surface of the earth.
14. Believed: The interaction between the suns EM flux fields and the earth geomagnetic field help to drive climatic shifts.
I hope you find this useful. We can definately demonstrate correlation but as many will tell you correlation is NOT causation. As the science continues to develop we are learning more. i.e. we now have the ability to measure magetic and flux strength much deeper into the sun. Fromt ehse measurements we are getting much bettwer at predicting future solar cycles. i.e. we are currently in cycle 24. Many accurately predicted that it would be as weak as it is. (NASA was off they said it would be stronger) All solar physicists I know of agree cycle 25 will be weaker than than cycle 24. More and more solar physicists are now saying cycle 26 could be weaker than cycle 25 with possibly 0 sunspots for that entire cycle.
Do some reasearch on the Dlaton and Maunder Minimums and the climate conditions at thsoe time. If the solar physicists are right we can expect AT LEAST a repeat of the Dalton (around the time of the US Revolution) and if 26 is non-existant possibly a Maunder type. (research little ice age)
I hope you find this helpful.
Here is an interesting article from another type of climate scientists at The Farmer's Almanac. I trust these scientists given their excellent track record of long range weather predictions: http://www.almanac.com/sunspotupdate
For historic evidence of the effect of sunspot activity on the Earth's climate, we can look back to the Little Ice Age. There is a strong correlation between long periods of cold temperatures to long periods of very low sunspot activity.
The proposed mechanism for this correlation is that sunspots and high solar activity and magnetic storms produce large solar winds. These winds blanket the Earth and reduce incoming cosmic radiation. It is theorized that cosmic radiation is an important part of the cloud formation process providing (or triggering) a seeding process for the formation of cloud droplets. And we know that more clouds have a cooling effect on the Earth.
Many sunspots >> high solar winds >> less cosmic radiation >> less global cloud cover >> global warming.
That's one of theories. However, even if the theory turns out to be 100% accurate, there are many other factors that affect the Earth's climate which would either add to or subtract from the effect of sunspots. So we don't really know the overall effect although the Little Ice Age may be a clue as to importance of solar activity.
Sunspots are an indication of increased solar activity, their presents means the Sun is outputting radiation at an elevated level. More radiation means more energy transfer to the Earth's atmosphere.
The opposite is also true, the lack of sunspots means the Sun is 'quiet' and it's output is lower than normal. This causes cooling of the Earth's atmosphere such as during the Little Ice Age.
NASA says: The intensity of the Sun varies along with the 11-year sunspot cycle.... These small changes can affect Earth in a big way. For example, between 1645 and 1715 (a period astronomers call the "Maunder Minimum") the sunspot cycle stopped; the face of the Sun was nearly blank for 70 years. At the same time Europe was hit by an extraordinary cold spell: the Thames River in London froze, glaciers advanced in the Alps, and northern sea ice increased. An earlier centuries-long surge in solar activity (inferred from studies of tree rings) had the opposite effect: Vikings were able to settle the thawed-out coast of Greenland in the 980s, and even grow enough wheat there to export the surplus to Scandinavia.
http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/sc...
-----------------------
Sunspots are generally related to the suns activity. It cycles over an 11 year period, you generally get more sunspots corresponding with the higher output. This can cause some changes to climate on earth.
Additionally, the angle of the earth to the sun along with eccentricities in orbit lead to variations in the amount of radiation that reaches earth. These are called the Milancovich cycles and were the predominant climate forcing features in the past. They can be closely modeled against past climate change, particularly the patterns of glacial / interglacial.
These natural cycles are included in all modern models of climate change, which is why we are so sure greenhouse gas emissions are the driving force behind current change. :) :)
no. There is a 11 year sunspot cycle, up and down. Global warming is a long term effect over the last 150 years.
A Greek astronimer first noticed a link between sun spots and weather I believe 4000 years ago (EDIT: 2500 years ago I think). The Chinese began accurate recordings of sunspots 2000 years ago. In the west, in recent history, it was noted that sunspots effected weather and crops hundreds of years ago. NASA scientists have written books on the massive effects sun spots have on weather. And still people deny a corolation and even keep them out of models.
You may enjoy this documentary which adds a new twist to the understanding of how sunspots effect weather.
They don't cause GW. They may contribute slightly but aren't a significant player
That is a denier ploy to take the focus from the fact that we are going through man made GW
http://skepticalscience.com/solar-activi...
There is some evidence that sunspots are responsible for a hole in the Ozone layer. However, that research was shouted down by malcontents in the scientific field. You see, you can't tax the Sun. As far as GW, there is some research that proves this out, but for the most part, our methods of research are not sufficient to actually verify that and the political pressures put upon the scientific community will never allow any research to go that direction.
Remember, greenies can only rule if there is a crises. No crises, then they lose taxes and control.
Quote by Sir John Houghton, pompous lead editor of first three IPCC reports: “If we want a good environmental policy in the future we’ll have to have a disaster.”
It warms the globe as its a mahoosive nuclear explosion which the heat it produces reaches earth. It DOES NOT cause global warming. Global warming started about 3 billion years ago!
They don't. The sun does (with a little help from the Koch brothers).
they don't. only idiots like Rush Limbaugh think they do
