They often denigrate us, climate
sceptics, as "deniers". But
the fact is that we hardly deny climate change and even global warming at all.
What we sceptics actually challenge is the absurd claim that carbon dioxide is
the prime driver of climate. We instead snap back - "It's the Sun, Stupid".
In 1996, Henrik Svensmark, a
Danish physicist, propounded the theory of cosmic rays and the formation of
clouds. Though climate activists laughed at his theory, it found increasing
resonance all around the world. In India, physicist and the former ISRO
chairman, U.R. Rao published a similar paper on behalf of the Environment
Ministry in Current Science, the preeminent Indian science journal.
CERN, the European
Organization for Nuclear Research has been conducting experiments using Large Hadron
Colliders (LHC). It uses a gigantic
scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between
Switzerland and France about 100m underground. It is a particle accelerator
used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental
building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from
the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.
Apart from searching for
the "God Particle" which they found some preliminary evidence last
year, the CERN experiment confirmed the Svensmark theory, at least in part. A
full confirmation may confer him the Noble Prize and break the global warmist
dam once for all.
Are
global climate changes caused by cycles of cosmic rays?
Ever since Henrik Svensmark
explained his theory concerning the connection between cosmic rays and the
formation of clouds in 1996 in Copenhagen, Denmark, I've received at least 100
emails and letters on the possible 'dawn of the cosmic ray era' in climate
science.
Earlier in March, Jerry
Boyd sent me this email on cosmic rays. I found his conclusions very
interesting to say the least. Here's what he wrote:
"The Svensmark hypothesis posits that periods
of global warming and global cooling are explained by the interaction of the
sun and cosmic rays. At least until recently, this hypothesis was largely
discounted by the global warming advocates, because they contended that solar
activity could not be responsible for significant changes in global
temperatures. The computer models cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Control (which is the basis of the so-called 'consensus' on climate
science) assumed little or no solar effect on climate. Therefore, global
warming theorists settled on a non-solar cause of global warming. Vola! Carbon
dioxide became the villain of the hour!
You can understand the dismay when a
serious research physicist from Denmark walks onto the stage with a climate
hypothesis which is based on a combination of solar magnetic forces and cosmic
rays. If he is correct, one of the pillars of global warming theory crumbles.
Aspects of the Svensmark hypothesis have been experimentally tested, including
using the European particle collider, apparently validated, and are in the
process of being published and peer-reviewed.
If this hypothesis holds up, 10 years
from now, Svensmark will win a Nobel prize, and the U.S. may decide to try to
again be a first-world economy and rejoin with China, India, Russia and Canada,
who are not so stupid as the U.S. in believing that you can get by without
carbon-based fuels."
In 2011, Svensmark updated
his cosmic ray hypothesis. Here are his recent findings:
- Cosmic
rays, high-energy particles raining down from exploded stars, knock electrons
out of air molecules. The
electrons help clusters of sulphuric acid and water molecules to form, which
can grow into cloud condensation nuclei - seeds on which water droplets form to
make clouds.
- Low
clouds made with liquid water droplets cool the Earth's surface.
- Variations
in the sun's magnetic activity alter the influx of cosmic rays to the earth.
- When
the sun is lazy, magnetically speaking, there are more cosmic rays and more low
clouds, and the world is cooler.
- When
the sun is active fewer cosmic rays reach the earth and, with fewer low clouds,
the world warms up.
- The
sun became unusually active during the 20th Century and as a result "global warming" occurred.
Recently (2006-2010) the
sun has been unusually lazy and "global warming" seems to have gone
into reverse, as expected by the Svensmark hypothesis.
Coolings and warmings of
around 2 degrees Celcius have occurred repeatedly over the past 10,000 years,
as the sun's activity and the cosmic ray influx have varied.
Over many millions of
years, much larger variations of up to 10 degrees Celcius occur as the sun and
earth, travelling through the Galaxy, visit regions with more or fewer
exploding stars.
Both Boyd's and Svenmark's
conclusions concerning the probable effects of cosmic rays on the Earth's
weather, particularly clouds formations, make sense to this climatologist. But,
I'm merely 'a watcher in the Idaho woods.' Theories of all types must be proven
over specific periods of time. I'm a patient man.
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