Our unusually more than active Sun
There is a direct link between historical records of high sunspot activity and planetary warming. It seems that the sun is being a bit more active than usual these days -- from the
BBC News:
Sunspots reaching 1,000-year high
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.
It 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.
And the Goreacle is going to listen to this data and respond in a rational fashion. His minions as well.
Once again folks, this planet (and Mars and Jupiter) are warming and to think that Humans are having a measurable effect on this and that they can reverse this is pure fucking hubris. All of this energy and time could be much better spent getting clean water to people, sewage systems, cheap minimally-polluting cooking stoves, vaccines and DDT for malaria (still killing two million people each and every year).
But these liberals do not think -- they mouth the platitudes issued by their fearless leaders who speak truth to power while willfully ignoring those who just speak the truth.
Posted by DaveH at April 9, 2007 9:27 PM