Climate Change « Ask a Real Expert « Ask an expert

« previous question | all | next question »

Q7: What does the world of real science know of the effect of solar wind (from sun spots and flares) on clouds and temperature? Specifically, what percentage of current warming can be attributed to this phenomenon?
Edited from a question submitted by Janet Dean

A: Solar winds have very little impact on clouds and temperature, almost negligible as far as we know. In the first 50 years of the last century there was an increase in solar activity, which may have accounted for a slight increase in temperature, but the increases in temperature in the last thirty years cannot be attributed to solar activity.

- Dr Tony Hirst, Climate and Weather: Applications and Impacts group, CSIRO Atmospheric Research

« previous question | all | next question »

^ top