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.
Yo albore, hear that? Ice age vice your global warming.
Will this affect our climate change? Al Gore has a lot riding on his pet projects.
This has to be total BS!
After all, who has more control over the climate of the Earth, AlGore or God?
When has God ever been able to promote the transferring of wealth as effectively as AlGore has?
It will then be an issue of how to take away personal freedom via transfer of wealth because of the issues with the climate getting colder instead of it getting warmer.
The agenda stays the same...
Forget the tree's and focus on the forest mindfully my FRiend. ; )
I don't think anyone can say right now
The NASA predictions were that this sunspot cycle (#24) which should have began in 2007 was going to produce a high number of sunspots like the solar cycles we've seen in the past 50 years, but the next one (#25 - starting in ~2018) was going to be very weak with more weak cycles following that.
But the fact that this sunspot cycle (#24) is "off to a very slow start" is making some people wonder if NASA predictions were off and if it is actually this cycle (#24) that is going to be the 1st of a series of very weak sunspot cycles.
Sea levels are falling in the Pacific Ocean
AND:
Sea levels are falling in the Maldives (Indian Ocean)
AND
Sea levels are falling in the Atlantic Ocean
Honesty in it's purest form your statement is.
The Plague.
They’ll keep at it until the United States economy is completely destroyed.
You’re right—Al Gore will just say, “whatever” and the press will say, “yeah—whatever he said” and their minions will say “burn the heretics!”
Thanks for the other links!
The Plague.
The two are running neck in neck these days as to who is the true "creator" is...politically.
I knew a scientist who was a filleter of fish.
(say it quickly)
:>)
No way!
They will do it until it is completely transfered to other sovereignty's.
There's a difference that I imply.
Of course the reason for the new mantra: Global Climate Change! If it changes at all, it is man’s fault, and we must do something about it - give me your wallet!
Every time we beam a Beatles song into outer space, the sun gets messed up. I blame them and America.
GOOD LORD! This can ONLY mean we need to do the exact OPPOSITE of what algoe’s been spewing, burn MORE energy, emit MORE fumes...buy BIGGER SUV’s...
gosh, methinks I’ll go fire up BOTH SUV’s right now and leave them running with the AC on...
do your part to save the planet!
DON’T GO GREEN!
Algore just cant get a decent break
/s
Al Gore to the rescue.
It’s hottish today in TN
I’m gonna be sweet and not sue though
LOL
Country gal time on the front porch
:)
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