Quote:
Originally Posted by TomT
From what I have read on this subject, the claimed warming due to variation in solar output has at least 3 sources:
1. Change in solar irradiation that correlates with sunspot cycle.
2. Change, concurrent with 1, that effects magnetic field shielding from cosmic rays. Reduced cosmic rays entering the atmosphere result in decreased aerosol formation which in turn results in decreased cloud formation and thus increased heating. Increased cosmic rays result in cooling.
These two have probably been discussed here, as they have been discussed at length in other forums.
3. Joule heating of the earth atmosphere caused by variation in the solar wind. I believe this is a relatively new finding after about 10 years of data taking, and is now starting to be included in climate models. It may be the largest solar effect found to date.
TomT
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the fourth would be long term changes in the solar constant. That one
should be slowly increasing on a geologic scale if current solar physics is correct.
I have been wondering about 3 for a couple years. The Earth's field gets banged on quite a bit, so I was wondering if
curl E = -dB/dt would get you some resistive heating in the atmosphere.
I wouldnt think it is a major contributor tho.
We'll see