The sun is the center of our solar system. Eight planets, Pluto and Charon orbit the Sun. It was born 4.6 billion years ago, and has enough energy to sustain itself for another 5 billion years. The surface of the sun, what we see on Earth has a temperature of about 5800 K. The core's temperature reaches over 15,000,000 K. The energy from the sun comes from fusion inside the core. This fusion involves hydrogen atoms coliding together. This collision forms helium atoms and releases energy.
Those who hold the opinion that the Sun is the cause of global warming, or atleast contributing to it, are citing researchers that say they have observed an increase in the Sun's radiation over the past 60 years. These researchers include Richard Wilson, a Columbia University researcher who is affliated with NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies.
Wilson's research was conducted using a satellite. Wilson believes that the Suns radiation has been increasing for the past century. He used pre-satellite era data to make this conclusion. Wilson said to SPACE.com that "the Sun's possible influence has been largely ignored because it is so difficult to quantify over long periods." However, Wilson does not believe that the Sun is the only factor contributing to global warming. He told SPACE.com that his findings "do not mean industrial pollution has not been a significant factor." He also cautioned that this trend could be short term, if newer satellite data proves to contradict his current findings. This data could also be confounded by the Sun's natural 11 year cycle, during which the energy produced by the Sun waxes and wanes. The current cycle reached its maximum peak in the year 2000 and reached a second peak in 2002. The following picture shows the change in the Sun during the cycle, dating from 1996 a low, 1998 midway, to 1999, almost at the maximum.
Wilson also provided SPACE.com with a graph showing the connection between temperatures on Earth and rises in solar activity. The dotted line shows solar activity and the solid line shows average temperature on the Northern Hemisphere. The lines do increase together in a general trend.
The Telegraph, a British newspaper, printed an opinion article on 7/17/2004, entitled "The truth about global warming - it's the Sun that's to blame." The article cited research from German and Swiss scientists that have found a connection between sunspots and temeperature. They believe the more sunspots, the higher the temperature, and vice versa. One researcher, Dr. David Viner did note that "that the study also showed that over the past 20 years the number of sunspots had remained roughly constant, while the Earth's temperature had continued to increase."
The research connecting the Sun to global warming on Earth is quite new and has not been accepted by the science community as a cause for global warming as much as greenhouse gas emissions. This might change as more studies are conducted and observations of the Sun's temperature continue.
12 comments:
I found your blog extremely interesting, especially the fact about the sun's cycles and the effect of sunspots on the Earth's temperature. You said that scientists have been studying the planets temperatures as well. Did they find that the temperatures of the other planets were affected by the sunspots or the cycles it goes through?
No, because the scientists could not track the temperature of other planets. They tracked Earth's temperature all the way back to the 1700s using methods like examining tree rings. Since planets like Mars have no trees, they could not track other planets temperatures for a long enough period of time.
Jill, I especially like the pictures that you incorporated into the blog. I found your blog post about the sun extremely interesting, and how exactly it is tied into global warming. Everything was well organized. Great job!
This is a really thorough examination of the Sun's effect. Thanks. Sara's question about temperatures on other planets is very interesting. I wonder if polar ice caps on Mars can be examined using "cores" to determine temperature history?
Your blog was extremely interesting and very thorough.
How quickly is the temperature changing? What is the difference?
This is a great introduction to the process even though it is a difficult concept. Are other planets showing similar warming patterns? Also, is the increased temperature of the sun consistent with the increase in the global climate?
Generally I knew that the sun was was heating up, but all the information, and the pictures really expanded my knowledge. Good Job!
Charlie,
The temperature is changing relatively quickly, most notably in the past 100 years.
Megan,
The increase in the Sun's radiation and the increase in Earth's temperature are relatively consitent, as shown by the graph. The only problem is that we do not have temperature data reaching any father back, so this connection cannot really be verified. If we had more temperature and radiation information from further back in time, the pattern may fall apart or prove more evident.
Your blog fully explains the research that scientists have found in regards to the Sun's effect on global warming. My topic is also related to the Sun as a cause and you seemed to have found more information about the Sun's cycle. Does the cycle of the Sun mean that over time the Sun's radiation will begin to decrease?
Lauren,
That's what scientists like Richard Wilson are trying to figure out. Since the Sun has about 5 billion years left in its life, it is unlikely radiation will continue increase, because after a while the Sun would burn the Earth's atmosphere. Any damage like that would only come with the Sun becoming a red dwarf in 5 billion years. So scientists expect radiation to decrease, but time will tell.
Good job on your blog, very nice looking and well organized. Do you think that tracking other planets of other universes would help determine whether or not there is anything effects of other planets/ The Sun/ stars asteroids etc on global warming of the earth. By looking at other galaxies do you think we can compare our problems with that of others?
Alyssa,
Looking at other solar systems probably would not help us understand our problem with global warming that well. Since global warming on Earth is either caused by the Sun or those living on Earth, other solar systems cannot really provide any evidence. Also even if we examined a star like the Sun in another part of the Milky Way/Universe, by the time we gathered information about that star's possible radiation cycles we would already have enough information about the Sun itself.
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