Posted on 04/10/2007 7:30:56 AM PDT by George W. Bush
Sunspots reaching 1,000-year high
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
Sunspots are plentiful nowadays
A new analysis shows that the Sun is more active now than it has been at anytime in the previous 1,000 years.
Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture of our star's activity in the past.
They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth's climate became steadily warmer.
This trend is being amplified by gases from fossil fuel burning, they argue.
'Little Ice Age'
Sunspots have been monitored on the Sun since 1610, shortly after the invention of the telescope. They provide the longest-running direct measurement of our star's activity.
The variation in sunspot numbers has revealed the Sun's 11-year cycle of activity as well as other, longer-term changes.
In particular, it has been noted that between about 1645 and 1715, few sunspots were seen on the Sun's surface.
This period is called the Maunder Minimum after the English astronomer who studied it.
Ice cores record climate trends back beyond human measurementsIt coincided with a spell of prolonged cold weather often referred to as the "Little Ice Age". Solar scientists strongly suspect there is a link between the two events - but the exact mechanism remains elusive.
Over the past few thousand years there is evidence of earlier Maunder-like coolings in the Earth's climate - indicated by tree-ring measurements that show slow growth due to prolonged cold.
In an attempt to determine what happened to sunspots during these other cold periods, Dr Sami Solanki and colleagues have looked at concentrations of a form, or isotope, of beryllium in ice cores from Greenland.
The isotope is created by cosmic rays - high-energy particles from the depths of the galaxy.
The flux of cosmic rays reaching the Earth's surface is modulated by the strength of the solar wind, the charged particles that stream away from the Sun's surface.
And since the strength of the solar wind varies over the sunspot cycle, the amount of beryllium in the ice at a time in the past can therefore be used to infer the state of the Sun and, roughly, the number of sunspots.
Latest warming
Dr Solanki is presenting a paper on the reconstruction of past solar activity at Cool Stars, Stellar Systems And The Sun, a conference in Hamburg, Germany.
He says that the reconstruction shows the Maunder Minimum and the other minima that are known in the past thousand years.
But the most striking feature, he says, is that looking at the past 1,150 years the Sun has never been as active as it has been during the past 60 years.
Over the past few hundred years, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of sunspots, a trend that has accelerated in the past century, just at the time when the Earth has been getting warmer.
The data suggests that changing solar activity is influencing in some way the global climate causing the world to get warmer.
Over the past 20 years, however, the number of sunspots has remained roughly constant, yet the average temperature of the Earth has continued to increase.
This is put down to a human-produced greenhouse effect caused by the combustion of fossil fuels.
This latest analysis shows that the Sun has had a considerable indirect influence on the global climate in the past, causing the Earth to warm or chill, and that mankind is amplifying the Sun's latest attempt to warm the Earth.
New!!: Dr. John Rays
GREENIE WATCH
Please ping me if you find one Ive missed.
OKSooner and I are doing the POGW
ping list while xcamel is on vacation.
;->
A simple way to look at it—the Solar Systems heat engine, the sun, is cranking out more thermal energy (radiation) than at anytime over the last 1000 years, therefore, the Solar Systems heat sinks, mainly space but the planets as well, must absorb that energy, hence the temperatures (level of thermal energy) of those heat sinks must rise (as long as they don’t do more work or give off more energy).
Basic thermodynamics.
....reads like a “who’s who” of nut cases.
nump for later read
FYI... I was in the audience for the "Live From the Hollywood Bowl" filming.
--Helen Caldicott, Union of Concerned Scientists
Which explains why we're all still living as serfs on the lord's property. /sarcasm
No wonder the lefties don't want kids taught anything in the public schools.
Any updates since?
Ironically, today at this moment, there isn’t a single sunspot on the sun.
I think that's a tad extreme. And also vague.
It's too short-term to call it anything else, unless a definitive cause-and-effect mechanism can be identified. (And that might still be an aspect of natural variability.)
So the next big El Nino might be the next step in the climate step function, eh?
Bend over and take it like a man :>)
Maybe yes or maybe no.
We haven't had a strong El Nino for some time now - despite the fact that this article claims the globe is still warming.
See point #2 in my profile, especially the first link.
I'm an Extra Class ham radio operator. Unfortunately, my new house in Idaho is too tall for me to access the roof. I hope to get antennas up someday. Dealing with high winds is also an issue here in southeast Idaho.
Well, the sun does shine out of my a$$....
Here's a recent (this week) quote from Dr. Richard Lindzen, probably the climate change skeptic with the most respected scientific credentials, frequently quoted by Senator Inhofe:
"There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true."
Still want to say "It's not happening?" If so, take it up with Dr. Lindzen.
Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it? It’s not about science, fact, or even logic. It’s all about feelings. Never let the facts get in the way of a good feeling. Algore, even more than President Bill, feels your pain for the planet so much more than anybody. That is why he is the spokesVP of the environmental (heavy on the MENTAL) movement.
Don’t let your facts get in the way, trust Algore.
See point #4 in my profile.
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