Peter Adams, a professor of civil and environmental engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and Jeff Pierce from Dalhousie University in Canada recently tested a controversial hypothesis that says changes in the sun are causing global warming.
An image of the sun from yesterday.
The pair of scientists developed a model to perform the test, according to the Carnegie Mellon press release.
Hypothesis: Increased solar activity reduces cloudiness by changing cosmic rays. So, when clouds decrease, more sunlight is let in, causing the earth to warm.
The findings: The first atmospheric simulations of changes in atmospheric ions and particle formation resulting from variations in the sun and cosmic rays showed that changes in the concentration of particles that affect clouds are 100 times too small to affect the climate.
"The basic problem with the hypothesis is that solar variations probably change new particle formation rates by less than 30 percent in the atmosphere. Also, these particles are extremely small and need to grow before they can affect clouds. Most do not survive to do so," Adams said in the press release.
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Henrik Svensmark, a weather scientist at the Danish National Space Center believes that the planet is experiencing a natural period of low cloud cover due to fewer cosmic rays entering the atmosphere, which is responsible for much of the global warming we are experiencing.
ReplyDeleteSvensmark claims carbon dioxide emissions due to human activity are having a smaller impact on climate change than scientists think. If he is correct, it could mean that mankind has more time to reduce our effect on the climate.
Svensmark published the first experimental evidence from five years' research on the influence that cosmic rays have on cloud production in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Journal A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.
Svensmark claims that the number of cosmic rays hitting the Earth changes with the magnetic activity around the Sun. During high periods of activity, fewer cosmic rays hit the Earth and so there are less clouds formed, resulting in warming. "Evidence from ice cores," he said, "show this happening long into the past. We have the highest solar activity we have had in at least 1,000 years."
Humans are having an effect on climate change, but by not including the cosmic ray effect in models it means the results are inaccurate.The size of man's impact may be much smaller and so the man-made change is happening slower than predicted.
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/05/the-chilling-st.html
How much more evidence do the skeptics need? I mean wasn't it proved by many many organizations already? But they always have to come up with new stupid ways how to question something that is already well-known. And then people like Mr. Adams and Mr. Pierce have to waste their time on proving the skeptics are wrong with their pointless assumptions when they could be focusing on finding solutions how to prevent the global warming.
ReplyDeleteTake care, Elli