All through scientific history there has been a series of controversies. These often develop on issu

All through scientific history there has been a series of controversies. These often develop on issues where there is little debate within the relevant academic community, yet widespread popular debate remains among the public. Climate change is one of the best examples of this phenomenon. While the vast majority of the scientific community agrees that not only is the world warming, but warming as a result of anthropogenic emissions; mainly in the form of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels. But, other theories linger, including the most persistent theory in which the rise in global temperature is accredited to cosmic rays and changes in solar output. It was speculated by some that cosmic rays from supernovae; the explosion of distant stars, increased the number of clouds in Earth’s atmosphere. This is thought to cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight off high albedo (ability to reflect light) clouds back into space. Contrastingly, in times where solar radiation is high, these cosmic rays are deflected and hence cloud formation is not facilitated and the planet warms. Does this seem plausible? Research published in in the journal Environmental Research Letters asked that very question, searching for any evidence. It found almost none. This theory may now be laid to rest. The research team looked for evidence that cloud cover increased with an increase in charged particles in the atmosphere- they found none. Next, the team scored historical records of both temperature and solar radiations. Here they found a statistically insignificant link between surface temperature and incoming radiation; the warming occurred one to two years prior to the increase in solar output. All in all, it was concluded that solar variation and cosmic rays could not have caused anything greater than 10% of the warming we have observed in th2 20th and 21st Century. -Jean Journal access: http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/4/045022/article The next best thing: http://www.iop.org/news/13/nov/page_61749.html Image adapted from Wiki-commons. -- source link

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