Saturday, June 16, 2007

How Intense Can It Get:Earth's Climate Change and the Sun

The previous Earth Sciences Post gave other sources for an additional perspective on the issue of Climate Change.
This Post includes another perspective about the Earth's own Sun and its' affect on the Earth's Climate.

Almost every one knows that the Sun has an affect on the Earth's temperature.No PhD from MIT or Cal Tech is needed to figure that one out.It is presently summer in the Northern hemisphere and probably most of us have participated in the following scientific experiment when:

  • we first stand out in the direct sunlight,determine that it is hot and then
  • stand in the shade and determine it is cooler than standing in direct sunlight.
  • Thus deducing that the Sun generates Heat that reaches the Earth, from however far away it is.
Now the brilliance of great science is to reduce a complex and involved principle into simple terms.
I hope I have done a brilliant job of that with the above example,especially having spoken about one of the most dazzling of subjects ,the Sun.

Excuse the pun,but I want to make this at least a little bit fun.

You surely recall being taught, if you attended a USA public school as I did, that the Sun is presumed to burn Hydrogen in a Nuclear reaction that produces Heat and Helium.
That the Sun's heat is what helps keeps the Earth warm and the production of Helium is causing the Sun to slowly expand and that one day, far off in the future, the Sun will slowly expand and consume the Planets Mercury,Venus and our Planet Earth,giving each a severe case of "Global Warming"!
Another thing I was taught was that the Sun has spots that appear on it's surface and that they run in cycles of about every 7 to 11 years.
That when the spots are large and active, that they can erupt, spraying out jets of highly charged Ionized particles that can disrupt Earths Power and Communications systems,if the Earth happens to be in the path of the Solar jet.

Any one ever use a microwave oven?
KEY POINT
It uses Highly charged particles(waves) to heat an object with out touching it.

Another example of highly charged particles is the "Northern Lights" or Aurora Borealis in the Northern Hemisphere.
It is one of Natures most brilliant shows,which is similar to how a fluorescent fixture works except it is the Earths Atmosphere which is the gas in the bulb and the electrical source is the Sun's Particles.When it is not a Solar Flare jet lighting the night sky, it is the Solar Wind,which blows all the time from the surface of the Sun to the Earth.
When the Earth is caught in the direct path of a LARGE Solar Flare jet the Northern Lights have been seen as far south as Florida and Mississippi,but generally are only visible, when just the solar wind is blowing ,as far south as the state of Indiana.

The Strength of the Earth's Own Magnetic Field plays a part in the "Northern Lights" and also figures in the earth's Total Climate Temperature.
(A most interesting subject that will be discussed in more detail in a coming article.)
Here is a Preview of that article:
You do know that the Earths Magnetic Poles are about to Flip, right?

All the above information has laid the ground work for the following:
  • The Sun Directly affects the Temperature of the Earth
  • The charged particles from the Sun's surface reach the Earth at all times in various quantities
  • That the amount of particles determines the intensity of the Northern Lights,just as the light bulb's wattage determines its' brilliance

The questions are:

  1. Is the Sun's expansion heating up the Earth?
  2. If it is not expanding in size ,then is an increase in the intensity of it's Nuclear reactions creating some form of inductive heating of the Earth's atmosphere?
  3. Is our solar system itself, as it travels through space, encountering energy streams of varying intensity from other stars?
  4. Does the intensity of the Sun Spots cycle and the resultant increase in Solar Activity,such as Solar Flares and an increase in the Solar Wind, have any affect on the climate of the Earth?

I now refer you to some quotes from an Article in the July 2007 issue of
Discover Magazine, found on Page 47 and written by Marion Long


The article is an interview with a Brilliant scientist named:
Henrik Svensmark

Here is his theory in short:
That the intensity of Cosmic Rays reaching the Earth's atmosphere determines the amount of the Earth's Cloud Cover, thus this is ONE MORE factor in determining the Earth's overall surface temperatures.

Two other scientists in 1991 released a study of 100 years of climate and sunspot activity and found:

  • a correlation between the intensity of solar activity with the overall temperature of the Earth

Henrik Svensmark believes that when there are High intensity periods of Sunspots and Solar flares reaching Earth, that the Sun's Charged Particle streams reduce the Cosmic Rays penetrating the atmosphere, which causes less clouds, thus warming of the Earth.

He mentions as proof for his theory what is commonly referred to as the:

  • Little Ice Age some 300 years ago, around 1707
  • Between 1650 to 1715, very few sunspots were observed on the Sun, meaning there was low solar activity,thus more clouds covering the Earth due to cosmic rays affecting the atmosphere, thus producing a colder planet
  • During the Medieval era there was a warm period that correlated to a period of intense Sunspot and Solar Flare activity.High solar activity means a warmer planet due to less cloud formation due to the shielding of the earth from the Cosmic Rays by the Sun's Highly charged Solar Wind.

Important Point:

Henrik Svensmark states in the interview:

  1. that his concept is a theory
  2. and that he is working on experiments,which the initial results from have shown that his ideas have validity
  3. That there are other reasons for climate Change that have little to do with CO2!!!!

For instance:

  • Say he is right and intense Solar activity causes a warmer Earth
  • Say that while there is this warmer period a Volcano erupts such as Mt Pinatubo did in the Philippines on June 15, 1991.
  • that the Volcano produces Ash and smoke in such a quantity that it causes cloud formation, as MT Pinatubo did,and that it cools the Earth by approximately 3/4 degree C. in temperature, as Mt Pinatubo did in the years 1992 and 1993.(The United States had its third coldest and third wettest summer in 77 years in the year 1992, following the eruption)

Question:

  1. Is the Earth going to be warmer or Cooler when both the above conditions happen at the same time?

I could offer my answer now, but won't,You THINK it through.

I promise in the future to add up all the various arguments being presented and offer my call as to what the present climate trend is.

My Points:

  • Many different forces add up or subtract to create the Overall Temperature of the Earth's surface
  • man made CO2 has not been proven to be a factor in previous,LONG LASTING,periods of Climate Change.
  • Until a theory is proven it is only a theory(not withstanding the substance of Faith in pursuing what something inside you shows you is True before you ever see the proof of it)

For anyone who disputes the second of my above points , due to my mention of faith,go argue with Einstein about whether he had that Dream or Vision of riding a beam of light through the universe.I say that was an element of Faith, as it was the substance of something not yet proved.Einsteins proof proved to be quite dramatic,such as in a huge BOOM called a Nuclear Bomb.

God forbid an agnostic or atheist would have to admit that Einstein had faith to prove his theory!

Yet it is a point you can't get around, just like you can't escape the proof that the Sun affects the earth's temperature,perhaps in ways published science hasn't even yet considered.More Scientists like Henrik Svensmark deserve to be getting more funding,but aren't.

Read the article in Discover to "discover" how Henrik is getting his funding.Maybe you'll be amazed ,maybe you won't.When you read the article and learn who is funding his research,come back and leave a Comment on how we can support Henrik through support of the company funding his research.I have what I think would be a "brilliant" campaign,but I will hold off presenting mine, until others contribute theirs.

Hint:Cheers!

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