Sun Behaving Badly News

London, England (CNN) -- A new study has shed light on the sun's impact on the Earth's climate, confounding current thinking about solar cycles and how they influence temperatures on Earth.

Previously scientists had thought that radiation reaching the Earth rises and falls in line with the Sun's activity, which during the 11-year solar cycle goes though periods of low and high activity.

But research by Imperial College, London and the University of Colorado in the U.S. examining solar radiation levels from 2004 to 2007 -- a period of declining solar activity -- revealed that levels of visible radiation reaching the Earth actually increased during the period.

Using data collected by NASA's SORCE (SOlar Radiation and Climate Experiment) satellite, which launched in 2003, the scientists were able to scrutinize the full solar spectrum -- x-ray, ultraviolet (UV), visible (VR), near-infrared, and total solar radiation -- and compare it to earlier, less comprehensive data.

Joanna Haigh, leader author of the study published in the journal Nature told CNN: "What the data has shown, rather unexpectedly, is that the decline in ultra-violet radiation is much larger than anticipated. But more surprisingly the visible radiation actually increased as solar activity was declining."

Haigh, a professor of atmospheric physics, says that UV radiation is mostly absorbed in the stratosphere but visible radiation gets through to the earth's surface. The observed increase in VR, despite declining solar activity, may have caused small rises in temperature.

But, as Haigh points out, the research, which covers a short period, comes with some caveats.

"The sun has been behaving very strangely. Its magnetic activity is lower than it has been for several hundred years, perhaps. And so the fact that it's doing strange things in its spectrum is perhaps not that unexpected," she said.

It's also just starting to come out of a very long period (two years) of minimum activity, she says.

As the Sun's activity starts to increase, "it will also be very, very interesting to see if the visible radiation starts to decline," Haigh says.

Haigh is aware that research which contradicts existing ideas about how the Sun's activity affects the Earth's climate is likely to fuel some climate skepticism.

But she says the solar cycles cancel each other out, going up and down over roughly an 11-year period.

"They [the solar cycles] are contributing nothing to long-term global warming," she said, "and it has no bearing on what we understand about greenhouse gases and their influence on climate."

Robert von Fay-Siebenburgen, a solar physicist from the UK's University of Sheffield told CNN: "What has been published is very interesting and a little unexpected, to be honest."

But he says that despite the Sun being our closest star, scientists still know very little about it.

"We have a better understanding of the internal processes -- what is below the surface of the Sun. However, what is above that and how it affects the Earth's climate is very poorly understood," he said.

www.cnn.com...

Each time I turn around there is something new

going on with the sun. *sighs*

interesting subject to say the least, have read it has been the most active in the last 50-70 years above anyother time in history based on tree rings, one of the most notable aspects that caught my eye was that the charged particles deflect cosmic rays...I thought as in gamma burst rays? lotza stuff about the sun/stars from Genesis to Revelations and add to that that a GRB billions millions times the brightness of the sun (most luminous event known) happened in 2008 (GRB080319) was aimed at earf and only one known to be visible to the naked eye

www.newscientist.com...

a pretty famous vato, A. Clarke, has even specualted that the star over Bethlehem was a GRB..he died on the same day, there's even an attempt to name it after him

reply to post by Rustami


Thank you for the link Rustami!

I wouldnt worry too much about this, its probably perfectly normal. Exactly how long have we been able to study the sun? We need a lot more time to understand the cycles.

reply to post by EnactedEgoTrip


Not long I know. It's not a matter of worrying...but no one seems to get a handle on it yet!

I am more worried...or should I say concerned about getting hit by an asteroid than

anything else!

Let's see.....hmm...would I want to know that we had no chance with an asteroid?

I don't think so. Let me die in ignorance!