[CedarDave]

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.

How about lag time between the sunspots and impacts on global temperature. After all, it takes a while to bring the temperature of a pot of water up after applying heat and the oceans are the biggest heat source/heat sink on the planet.

[Always Right]

How about lag time between the sunspots and impacts on global temperature. After all, it takes a while to bring the temperature of a pot of water up after applying heat and the oceans are the biggest heat source/heat sink on the planet.

Yep, when I turn on the burner it takes quite a while before the water boils.