Sun is not causing current global warming, researchers confirm
Attention all ye who think the sun might be a primary cause of climate change, and all ye who know someone who thinks that: No. It’s not the sun. Researchers have published a study of the last century of solar activity, finding that the sun’s output has actually declined over the last 20 years. (And yes, they did brainy adjustments to account for variations and cycles and such.) “The sun did a U-turn around 1985, but the temperatures kept on rising,” says English solar physicist Mike Lockwood. “Everything on the sun that could have affected climate has been going in the wrong direction to cause warming, and we’ve seen continued warming.” Lockwood and Claus Froehlich of the World Radiation Center also studied cosmic rays, which had been thought by some to be a significant contributor to climate change. Cosmic rays “might … have had a significant effect on pre-industrial climate,” Lockwood says, “but you cannot apply it to what we’re seeing now, because we’re in a completely different ball game.”
