Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato1
Thanks. Nice to see someone else who remembers them.
Curiously or coincidentally or not so coincidentally, that was the time that coincided with the increase in the earth's temperature.
And curiously or coincidentally or not so coincidentally, ever since the big sunspot groups have dried up in the late 1990s, the earth's temperature has entered a pause, a hiatus - has failed to increase.
Regards,
Renato
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With due apologies for raising it, but Renato, do you realise that
the total heat content of Earth has continued to rise unabated over the past 15 years? The "Earth's temperature" is not just the air (2%), but also the oceans (93%), land (2%) and cryosphere (2%). Ignore the oceans, and you ignore almost all the heat that Earth is accumulating due to our enhancement of the greenhouse effect. And the oceans have warmed most in the past 15 years. That enhanced heat trapping effect is the byproduct of a top-of-the-atmosphere energy imbalance brought about by infrared absorption and emission at the wavelength of a certain familiar, but non-condensing triatomic molecule. As astronomers, we should be familiar with the spectral fingerprinting possible due to spectroscopy, which directly confirms this enhanced effect. And extra atmospheric insulation means the stratosphere is cooling while the troposphere warms up, an effect not possible if it were simply the Sun wot done it.
It ain't the sun!
Back on topic, the Sun has been much quieter than the last solar max that I saw, but there have been a few excellent spot groups to view. You just have to be more patient than in previous decades. It's not a promising thought for visual solar observing if the Sun were to go into a prolonged quiet phase, where this could be as good as it gets for decades
. But that wouldn't change the energy balance by enough watts per square metre to put
much of a dent in our warming of the planet.