The IPCC is investigating the Sun as a driver of global warming
The IPCC for the first time will investigate “in depth” the role of global cosmic rays in climate change, according to a report last week in the Hindustan Times. Many solar and space scientists believe that cosmic rays, whose ability to enter Earth’s atmosphere is regulated by the Sun, are a dominant factor in global warming.
The turnaround in the IPCC position was announced by the chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, in a communication with India’s Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh. The announcement followed the release of a paper by U R Rao, the former chairman of Indian Space Research Organization, that showed cosmic rays alone were responsible for 40% of global warming. These findings by one of Pachauri’s most distinguished countrymen, rebutted IPCC claims that carbon dioxide and other man-made causes were responsible for more than 90% of global warming. Ramesh, who commissioned Rao’s paper, in 2009 had also released a report rebutting the IPCC’s claims that Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035. The IPCC subsequently retracted its claims in an embarrassment now known as “Glaciergate.”
Until now, the IPCC has argued that the Sun is all-but-irrelevant to global warming, consistent with the IPCC’s very mandate, which dismisses the Sun as a major factor worthy of investigation. Ramesh is hopeful that Pauchari and the IPCC will now open their minds to dissenting scientists. ““There is a groupthink in climate science today,” the minister explained. “Anyone who raises alternative climate theories is immediately branded as a climate atheist in an atmosphere of climate evangelists.”
The Danish National Space Center has pioneered the theory that cosmic rays, by seeding clouds, regulate Earth’s climate – the Danes astounded the scientific world when they actually created clouds in a chamber on Earth. A photo of the path-breaking Danish cloud chamber, and a brief explanation of the science, can be found here.
LawrenceSolomon@nextcity.com
Lawrence Solomon is executive director of Energy Probe and the author of The Deniers.
