Solar Cycle Not to Blame for Warming

New research confirms that increased greenhouse gas levels − rather than solar radiation impacts − are the key factor in global climate change.

European scientists have dug deep to dismiss once again the old argument that climate change might be a consequence of solar radiation rather than atmospheric chemistry.

The world is warming, they confirm, because more greenhouse gases are getting into the atmosphere, and the changes in the solar cycle are not a significant factor.

This is not the first such reassurance.  Teams of researchers have in the last few years eliminated cosmic radiation as a factor in climate change and confirmed that sunspots, too, can be declared innocent.

But in 2011, with backing from the European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST), scientists set up their own project.  They wanted to better understand the relationship between the cyclically changing patterns of sunlight and variations in climate, against a background of global warming.

Solar variability
The TOSCA project – which stands for “towards a more complete assessment of the impact of solar variability on the Earth’s climate”− is a co-operation involving solar physics, geomagnetism, climate modelling and atmospheric chemistry.

The scientists went for a global approach, with 61 researchers from many disciplines working together to examine as many aspects as possible that might link variations in the sun’s behavior with variations in climate.  And they have summarized the story-so-far in a new report.

What they identified is solar mechanisms that could alter regional climate, but none that could trigger global warming.

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