Posted on 02/09/2008 12:25:57 PM PST by neverdem
Global Cooling comes back in a big way
Dr. Kenneth Tapping is worried about the sun. Solar activity comes in regular cycles, but the latest one is refusing to start. Sunspots have all but vanished, and activity is suspiciously quiet. The last time this happened was 400 years ago -- and it signaled a solar event known as a "Maunder Minimum," along with the start of what we now call the "Little Ice Age."
Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, says it may be happening again. Overseeing a giant radio telescope he calls a "stethoscope for the sun," Tapping says, if the pattern doesn't change quickly, the earth is in for some very chilly weather.
During the Little Ice Age, global temperatures dropped sharply. New York Harbor froze hard enough to allow people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island, and in Britain, people reported sighting eskimos paddling canoes off the coast. Glaciers in Norway grew up to 100 meters a year, destroying farms and villages.
But will it happen again?
In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov predicted the sun would soon peak, triggering a rapid decline in world temperatures. Only last month, the view was echoed by Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. who advised the world to "stock up on fur coats." Sorokhtin, who calls man's contribution to climate change "a drop in the bucket," predicts the solar minimum to occur by the year 2040, with icy weather lasting till 2100 or beyond.
Observational data seems to support the claims -- or doesn't contradict it, at least. According to data from Britain's Met Office, the earth has cooled very slightly since 1998. The Met Office says global warming "will pick up again shortly." Others aren't so sure.
Researcher Dr. Timothy Patterson, director of the Geoscience Center at Carleton University, shares the concern. Patterson is finding "excellent correlations" between solar fluctuations, a relationship that historically, he says doesn't exist between CO2 and past climate changes. According to Patterson. we shouldn't be surprised by a solar link. "The sun [is] the ultimate source of energy on this planet," he says.
Such research dates back to 1991, when the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study showing that world temperatures over the past several centuries correlated very closely with solar cycles. A 2004 study by the Max Planck Institute found a similar correlation, but concluded the timing was only coincidental, as the solar variance seemed too small to explain temperature changes.
However, researchers at DMI continued to work, eventually discovering what they believe to be the link. The key factor isn't changes in solar output, but rather changes in the sun's magnetosphere A stronger field shields the earth more from cosmic rays, which act as "seeds" for cloud formation. The result is less cloud cover, and a warming planet. When the field weakens, clouds increases, reflecting more light back to space, and the earth cools off.
Recently, lead researcher Henrik Svensmark was able to experimentally verify the link between cosmic rays and cloud formation, in a cloud chamber experiment called "SKY" at the Danish National Space Center. CERN plans a similar experiment this year.
A few years ago, Stanford University's Hoover Institution also reported finding a correlation between the sun and climate. Hoover
Even NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies -- long the nation's most ardent champion of anthropogenic global warming -- is getting in on the act. Drew Shindell, a researcher at GISS, says there are some "interesting relationships we don't fully understand" between solar activity and climate.
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Well it doesn’t matter,global cooling or warming; We know humans are to blame. Humans should just stop living and allow the animals to frolic and commune with nature without mans evil presence to hinder them. Everything would be wonderful for a long time after the departure of man. Well, until monkeys, Panda Bears or something got around to inventing SUV’s.
btt
of course the new ice age will be blamed on global warming
Hey, how are we going to have an Ice Age if the glaciers are melting??? I am soooooo confused.
Global warming? It’s the sun.
Global cooling? It’s the sun.
I’ve always wondered why all experts don’t look to the “source” when they start pontificating about temperature changes on earth. Actually, I guess it’s because they can’t yet figure out a way to blame sun activity on man’s activity on earth.
But I’m sure they’re trying.
Thanks for the link.
It would be great to see some pols in Congress, or even our poor deluded Prez to point these scientific proofs out before either Hil, Obama or McCain go rushing into Kyoto, mandates, and an end to free enterprise capitalism in our time. Too bad the MSM will not print this stuff with more explanations and or even debates on this junk that we get fed each day and night from the whackoes on the Left.
My research shows the same. It's cold at night, hotter during the day.
Seriously, this is what I've always worried about. While the GW trolls blabbed on about the non-existent CO2 problem, all signs indicated that we were in for a re-run of the little ice age. The only satisfaction I'll have is the look on Al Gore's face when he's told that he was wrong--very wrong.
A repeat of the Maunder Minimum.
I’ll laugh my ass off.
Sounds like Global Warming is N to the third, (or cubed heh! heh!)
Even NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies -- long the nation's most ardent champion of anthropogenic global warming -- is getting in on the act. Drew Shindell, a researcher at GISS, says there are some "interesting relationships we don't fully understand" between solar activity and climate.
Duh, ya think?
More likely you'll freeze it off.
“Algore Minimum” ping!
Anyone else other than me feel pretty dammed sad that the only people that seem to be speaking with some honesty and real research into climate change are the RUSSIANS?
Was'nt too long ago, the meme was that we could'nt lie and the russkies could'nt tell the truth.
I should really stop trying to figure out how I stumbled into a rabbit hole a decade or two ago...
Can I assume you have a passing interest in Astronomy at least?
My understanding here is that the sun spot cycle is not moving into some lesser activity trough, but that the cycle is just taking about 2 months longer than usual to return to the upswing in activity.
Is that correct?
The crisis is over. The cold snap ended today. It is only -20.
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