I have been reading quite a bit lately about the current low solar (sunspot) activity (cycle 24), and that cycle 25 may even be quieter. I understand there may be a link between lower solar activity and cooling, e.g. Maunder and Dalton minimums. I have read a few articles suggesting a lower activity causes a weaker solar wind stream, which in turns allows for more cosmic radiation to reach the earth. I guess the increased cosmic radiation may be responsible for the formation of some type of high cloud that ultimately affects the amount of solar energy that reaches the surface of the earth. I would love to know what impacts, if any, that solar activity may have on our climate based on recent research.
Thanks Edward for diving in and starting a discussion here for the upcoming CVCVC! I'm hoping you'll get some responses from other students or instructors.
Lon
Lon
Ed,
I reached out to my colleagues in the Space Weather Prediction Center. The following is provided by Rodney Viereck, Chief, Space Weather Services Branch, SWPC:
What we know and agree upon.
1. Solar variability does influence climate and that locally the climate response is often quite significant.
2. Compared to anthropogenic forcing, the solar forcing is relatively small. The increase in globally averaged temperatures since 1900 is driven by about 80-90% anthropogenic (CO2) and 5-20% solar.
3. All of the most serious (IPCC) global climate models include a variable sun as one of the important inputs.
4. Measuring the changes in solar irradiance (total irradiance and spectral irradiance) must be a part of any complete climate monitoring program.
Topics still under consideration:
1. How much has solar irradiance changed in the last 150 years?
2. How does the solar spectrum change compared to the total solar irradiance?
3. What are the mechanisms by which small changes in solar irradiance (0.1% over the 11 year solar cycle) manifest themselves in the climate systems? Are the small changes at visible wavelengths more important than the larger changes in the UV part of the solar spectrum? How can larger changes in stratospheric temperatures propagate down to the troposphere?
4. What are the feedback mechanisms within the climate system that affect climate response to internal parameters (clouds, water, ENSO, ...) as compared to the external forcing from solar variability and volcanic events.
Hope this information is helpful!
Renee
Greetings
I'm new to the CVCVC but have been involved in climate research and the downscaled outlook process for a number of years. I have also been collecting electric field data and have worked on the solar/electric field/weather connection for 2 decades. My question to the group; is anyone familiar with Dr. Brian Tinsley, professor University of Texas, Dallas? He has done what some believe is definitive research on the solar-weather/solar-climate link. He has proposed a mechanism by which weather and climate is directly driven by solar events. There are others as well, but Dr. Tinsley was the first with whom I communicated many years ago while in school. In my experience the meteorological community has largely ignored this important forcing in lieu of more classic, better understood forcing. Comments?
I'm new to the CVCVC but have been involved in climate research and the downscaled outlook process for a number of years. I have also been collecting electric field data and have worked on the solar/electric field/weather connection for 2 decades. My question to the group; is anyone familiar with Dr. Brian Tinsley, professor University of Texas, Dallas? He has done what some believe is definitive research on the solar-weather/solar-climate link. He has proposed a mechanism by which weather and climate is directly driven by solar events. There are others as well, but Dr. Tinsley was the first with whom I communicated many years ago while in school. In my experience the meteorological community has largely ignored this important forcing in lieu of more classic, better understood forcing. Comments?