the Sun Also Sets

[Tarc]

Another chapter in the anti-Gore "Global Warming is a Myth" saga. Any input on this for knowledgeable types around here?

The Sun Also Sets

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus." Scientists worried about a new ice age seek funding to better observe something bigger than your SUV — the sun.

Related Topics: Global Warming

Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.

To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.

And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.

- http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=287279412587175

[phantom power]

1. so many straw men, so little time...

1) A "consensus" does not depend on "unanimous agreement."

2) Everybody knows the sun is the energy source for the climate. That might be a revelation if you are super-ignorant. Like the author of that editorial, maybe.

3) What matters is the thermal equilibrium of earth's climate. That is governed by greenhouse gases. Like CO2.

4) If these guys want to study the sun, I don't think there is a scientist alive who would think that's a bad idea. We certainly have a lot to learn about it.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Ah yes... Solar Cycles... why hasn't anyone thought of this before!?

(They have of course.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=130637&mesg_id=130726

[pscot]

3. Investors Business Daily

is run by free-market cultists who worship Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman. They think Al Gore is some kind of commie-pinko-prevert. I would be suspicious if they said the sun rises in the East.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Follow Up: Global Cooling Alert

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/02/019754.php

Global Cooling Alert

When Scott and I wrote "The Global Warming Hoax" in 1992, a group of Danish scientists had just published a paper that compared solar energy output (as measured by sunspot activity) to global temperatures, and found a striking correlation. No surprise there: just about all energy on earth comes from the Sun. Investors' Business Daily recalls that research and notes that the Sun has been quiet lately:

...

I suspect that many global warming alarmists are well aware that time is running out for them. If nothing is done and global temperatures decline in coming years--as they inevitably will, the only question is when--the alarmists will have been refuted. On the other hand, if they succeed in pushing through industry-destroying caps on carbon emissions around the world, and especially here in the U.S., they will take credit for the cooling when it comes, claiming it as vindication of their theories.

In that context, the 2008 election shapes up as very important. I don't worry too much about John McCain's acknowledged lack of economic expertise, as his instincts on the economy are generally conservative. But McCain badly needs to educate himself on the debate currently raging over the climate. "Global warming" represents the Left's most ambitious power grab since the fall of Communism, and if a Republican President doesn't stand it its way, who will?

...

There is lots of good work being done in climate science, a discipline that is still in its infancy. There are also plenty of creative proposals for how to address our energy needs. But if the Republican Party mindlessly signs on to the fake-science of anthropogenic global warming, those ideas will never see the light of day. Someone please get the word to John McCain.

And what will we do if we, "succeed in pushing through industry-destroying caps on carbon emissions around the world," and the cooling doesn't come?

And what will they do if we don't, "succeed in pushing through industry-destroying caps on carbon emissions around the world," and things continue to accelerate?

[Viking12]

6. The "global cooling" meme is becoming pervasive...

Some PR hack must have told the wingnuts that it polled better than "global warming is good for us."

Edit: Spelling

[Viking12]

5. Debunked

The scientist featured wasn't even interviewed - great journalism. Had they interviewed him, they would have learned Kenneth Tapping's views,

"The stuff on the web came from a casual chat with someone who managed to misunderstand what I said and then put the result on the web, which is probably a big caution for me regarding the future.

It is true that the beginning of the next solar cycle is late, but not so late that we are getting worried, merely curious.

It is the opinion of scientists, including me, that global warming is a major issue, and that it might be too late to do anything about it already. If there is a cooling due to the solar activity cycle laying off for a bit, then the a period of solar cooling could be a much-needed respite giving us more time to attack the problem of greenhouse gases, with the caveat that if we do not, things will be far worse when things turn on again after a few decades. However, once again it is early days and we cannot at the moment conclude there is another minimum started."

http://www.leanleft.com/archives/2008/02/09/6488/

Via: http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/

The artcile also cites the Max Plank Institute in Germany. Here's what they have to say about their work:

"Although the changes in the two values tend to follow each other for roughly the first 120 years, the Earth’s temperature has risen dramatically in the last 30 years while the solar brightness has not appreciably increased in this time," they said... "since about 1980, while the total solar radiation, its ultraviolet component, and the cosmic ray intensity all exhibit the 11-year solar periodicity, there has otherwise been no significant increase in their values. In contrast, the Earth has warmed up considerably within this time period. This means that the Sun is not the cause of the present global warming."

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2004/2004-08-03-03.asp

[losthills]

7. I always encourage people to get real jobs.

It's the best way to pay your bills.

[Dead_Parrot]

8. There's an interesting essay on this...

...over at the American Institute of Physics which goes into the history of this research. Lots of references, and I'd recommend interested parties give it a read, but I'll give you a graph to look at:



The solid lines show solar variation, measured in terms of total irradience (top) and UV radiation (bottom). It should be obvious that
a: there has been a correlation between solar activity and temperature, and
b: that correlation has now broken down the Earth is getting hotter anyway.

"The variations are a small fraction of the total solar energy — comparable to the change in the energy flow through the Earth's atmosphere caused by a few years of accumulation of greenhouse gases."