Solar variability and terrestrial climate

[Paul Haese]

An interestingg report has just been handed down about the interaction between the solar cycle and terrestrial climate.

While generally not seen as the cause of climate change, it appears that events such as el nino and la nina can be driven by the solar output. An imager designed to view the suns output is being asked for so that a more comprehensive understanding can be made.

Article can be found here (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/08jan_sunclimate/)

Feel free to discuss.

It just goes to show how little we still know about the sun. Personally I think that since we live inside the atmosphere of a star, that must have some effect up climate change in the long term. The extent of the effect must still be in question. Most likely minimal but maybe it is a significant factor. Watching the next two cycles will certainly give us a better understanding.

[KenGee]

At the risk of starting yet another climate change war... the article is not a science paper it's a report on a pannel report.
The idea that we do not know everything there is to understand how the sun activity effects the earths the climate has never been in doubt. What shouldn't be read into this is that we should question the clear link between climate and greenhouse gasses.
it would be like questioning the clear link between lung cancer and smoking because we find something else that can cause lung cancer.

[andyc]

Well said, Ken - it should be noted that the known forcings from solar activity (e.g. Maunder to grand max) are something like an order of magnitude smaller, in W/sq m, than greenhouse gas radiative forcing. To be honest, I read the article and saw little really new in that area to what I read in the literature a decade ago. Solar forcings do not dominate modern climate forcings, CO2 and GHGs do. But variations in the Sun have some interesting regional effects on circulation. So while it's interesting to see further research into Sun-climate links - which has been a topic of strong research for decades - it doesn't alter the most important forcings on climate.

[rustigsmed]

Thanks for posting Paul, I am of the opinion the sun is too often neglected, underestimated or just misunderstood (on a great deal of subjects).

Perhaps a repeat event of 1859 will channel more scientific funding towards our understanding of Sol, his varying effects upon the natural world and the possible disruption to society through reliance on modern technologies.