The Cooling Winds
Timothy Birdnow
The solar wind is losing power, and is at a fifty year low, according to NASA.
The Ulysses solar probe reports a 13% drop in temperature, a 20% drop in density, and a 30% dropoff in the sun`s magnetic field, marking this as the weakest period of solar wind on record (records go back to the 1960`s).
What does this mean? The Heliosphere is thinning, and thus will block fewer cosmic rays. Heinrick Svensmark theorizes that an increase in cosmic rays reaching the Earth will drive cloud formation, increase the planet`s albedo, thus cooling it.
Is this the cause of the Earth`s unusually cool year? According to Anthony Watts, the Earth`s albedo reached a nadir in 1997, and has risen sharply since. Is this related to the weakening of solar activity? We`ve seen few sunspots in Solar Cycle 24, the solar conveyor belt has slowed to a crawl, and now the solar wind is bottoming out.
This will allow us to see if we are really in the throes of Anthropogenic Global Warming; if temperatures rise (and they haven`t since 1998) then factors other than solar activity are driving climate trends, if not then the greenhouse gas theory is falsified.
If a cooling trend continues, the climate alarmists will have to throw in the towel. Never fear; they`ll come up with a new cause to keep their adrenaline flowing! Probably ocean acidification, or the loss of bees…
They will just return to the global cooling scaremongering that they were putting out in the 70s without, I might presuppose, the slightest bit of embarassment. Being a liberal means never having to apologize for being wrong or for the damage that being wrong leaves in its wake.
Comment by rlkohl — September 24, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
You are dead right, Rikohl; they won`t skip a beat!
Liberalism is like love-you never have to say your sorry!
Tim
Comment by admin — September 24, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
Tim, thanks for keeping up on the AGW mythology. You know, space, being the final frontier affects the earth more than people seem to realize . . . Makes me wonder if science is still taught in schools.
Comment by William D. Zeranski — September 24, 2008 @ 8:37 pm