It’s the SUN, Stupid!

December 5, 2007 | 3 Comments

I’m old enough to remember when Bill Clinton was running for president and the advisors (of particular note – James Carville) kept saying, “it’s the economy, stupid!”  So today I find the tongue in cheek reminder just as apt now as then when applied to “Global Warming.”

Monday night Al Fin posted a piece about the expanding research and the new directions it’s taking for examining the sun.  Titled “Is the Sun Really a Masker of the Earth’s Deskiny?”  With “Deskiny” from a poem.  Al’s piece is an abstract of sorts about three views of the study and Al has links at the bottom of his post for more basic investigation.  Al’s quotes give a reader a good sense of the topics in research that offer more thought on what role the solar variations might have on atmospheric questions than currently in easy view for the “rest of us,” if one has a good science background. Thanks Al!

The best and most easily understood link goes to the European Space agency site’s news which seems much more like a highly useful primer on what this is all about.  Here we are introduced to “Cluster Data” about “convection cells” that are seen as influencing the surface weather.  The site offers graphic maps and moving patterns that show what is going on from the six years of data they have gathered.  Here one can get a sense of what we’re getting from the study until more hard data is gathered.

Perhaps most useful direct to science link goes to out Maksimovich’s site outsidethecube.blogspot.com.  Here Maksimovich looks over the work in mapping convection cells in the earth’s magnetic field.  Quoted –

Results show that the behavior of the cells is heavily linked to solar activity. The activity of our Sun is closely connected to the habitability of planet Earth . . . Recently, scientists discovered links between solar activity and heavy rains in eastern Africa and today we continue to find unique ways in which Sun is tied to our global climate.

Maksimovich also offers a condensation of the Tingly 2007 link, which is behind a registration and $30 barrier.  Maksimovich also quotes the relevant portion of the Troshichev abstract from an Antartic study –

warming is observed at ground level and cooling at h>10 km if the electric field of dawn–dusk direction is enhanced (when interplanetary magnetic field ΔBZ<0).>10 km) is observed if the dawn–dusk electric field decreases (when ΔBZ>0). There is a linear relationship between the value of ΔESW and ground temperature at Vostok station: the larger is leap in the ESW the stronger is temperature deviation. The effect reaches maximum within one day and is damped equally quickly.

These make Maksimovich’s summary all the more valuable.

As I noted last week, the Global Warming campaign has become a political cu-de-sac for building out a home for the believers paid for by all the rest of us.  Like it or not, the scientists we see working in the linked study papers above have to compete with issue artists living in the Global Warming cul-de-sac for funding so its very very important to be aware the climate is changing and the real research is still in its early stages.  Because we’re the workers who support and will be beneficiaries of the science work, we must grasp that the climate needs to be understood much better before we fund a cul-de-sac of special interests that may prove to be an endless drain of our money and who expel a fog of disinformation and error to keep their zone filled with investment, salaries and pensions.  I am very concerned that the press and public policy makers catch on and soon!


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Kiera Badanguio on May 20, 2011 7:41 PM

    I REALLY liked your post and blog! It took me a minute bit to find your site…but I bookmarked it. Would you mind if I posted a link back to your post?

  2. Felipa Giessinger on August 30, 2011 1:56 PM

    Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink – bookmark this site? Regards, Reader

  3. Hai Goring on September 1, 2011 6:21 PM

    Intriguing post. I have been searching for some good resources for solar panels and discovered your blog. Planning to bookmark this one!

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