{"id":303976,"date":"2024-02-23T20:27:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T19:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303976"},"modified":"2024-02-23T20:27:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T19:27:36","slug":"wrong-usa-today-more-than-one-type-of-solar-activity-influences-the-earths-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303976","title":{"rendered":"Wrong, USA Today, More Than One Type of Solar Activity Influences the Earth\u2019s Climate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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wallup.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By H. Sterling Burnett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA Today<\/em> published a supposed fact check claiming solar activity is not responsible for climate change. This is misleading at best, and foolishly wrong at worst. Various types of changes in solar activity have long been associated with changes in the Earth\u2019s temperature and climate, on short, mid-term, and longer time scales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USA Today<\/em> article by Kate S. Petersen, \u201cThe sun is mighty, but modern climate change is caused by human activity | Fact check<\/a>,\u201d presents itself as a fact check on a popular Facebook post. Wow! Responding to somebody\u2019s certainly Facebook post is taking on hard hitting news from a reliable source! Still, when one examines the post, and compares it to the supposed fact check, the Facebook post is closer to the truth than Petersen\u2019s and USA Today\u2019s<\/em> story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe implied claim is wrong,\u201d Petersen writes. \u201cWhile the sun significantly impacts Earth\u2019s climate, it is not responsible for modern climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile the amount of solar energy striking the Earth fluctuates on an 11-year cycle, there hasn\u2019t been a net increase since the 1950s, according to NASA,\u201d Petersen continues. \u201cHowever, global surface temperatures have risen dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petersen either is unaware of or simply ignored the fact that the 11-year solar cycles during which Sol\u2019s magnetic fields flip are just one type of solar cycle that can drive temperature and climate changes on the earth. Sunspots and solar flares happen seemingly randomly though with some consistency, and\u00a01,000<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a01,500 year<\/a>\u00a0cycles, and Milankovitch cycles also occur. All of these activities and others impact the Earth\u2019s temperatures. As discussed at\u00a0Climate at a Glance: The Sun\u2019s Impact on Climate Change<\/a><\/em>, historically through the present day, solar activity correlates quite well with climate change, better than changes in CO2. (see figures 1-3, below)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Figure 1. Changes in the Sun\u2019s energy output since 1900. The Sun\u2019s energy output has increased since the 1600\u2019s with its most recent increase occurring during the 20th century. Source: J. Lean, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol 27, No. 16 (2000).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
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Figure 2: Temperature history according to the United Nations IPCC First Assessment Report. The top graph shows temperatures during the past 1 million years. The middle graph shows temperatures during the past 12,000 years. The bottom graph shows temperatures during the past 1,000 years. Present temperatures are at the far right. Source: IPCC First Assessment Report, United Nations, p. 202.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
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Figure 3. Temperature changes vs. changes in the Sun\u2019s energy output and changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The graph on the left shows 20th century temperature changes in blue vs. changes in the Sun\u2019s energy output in red. The graph on the right shows 20th century changes in blue vs. changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions in red. W. Soon, et al., \u201cSolar irradiance modulation of Equator-to-Pole (Arctic) temperature gradients: Empirical evidence for climate variation on multi-decadal timescales,\u201d Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 93, 45-56.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

All the myriad ways solar activity impacts<\/a> the Earth are not fully understood. Changes in solar output and their impact on solar winds are plausible explanations for temperature shifts on some time scales. Scientific research also suggests another type of forcing from the sun, its impact on volume of cosmic rays entering the earth\u2019s atmosphere, which also impacts cloud formation and rainfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is, when Petersen and the government agencies she references state that the sun can\u2019t be a factor in current climate change, they are only looking at one type of solar activity on a single time scale. Our solar system isn\u2019t that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To buttress her claim that the sun isn\u2019t causing or significantly contributing to present climate change Petersen quotes Josh Willis, a NASA climate scientist, who told USA Today<\/em> that \u201cthe amount of warming we see matches what we expect based on the increased CO2 we\u2019ve added. The timing of the warming matches the timing of the CO2 increase caused by people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willis\u2019s claim doesn\u2019t match the facts. The Earth began to warm in the mid- to late 19th<\/sup> century, before humans began emitting large significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, then after the 1940s, even as global industrialization and anthropogenic CO2 emissions were increasing at a rapid pace, the earth began cooling, leading some scientists and media outlets by the 1970s to warn that an ice age might be coming. Then, the Earth started warming in the 1980s, only to plateau or pause for 15 years beginning in the late 1990s, despite CO2\u2019s steady increase. There has, in fact, been no good correlation between CO2 concentrations and temperature changes throughout the latter 20th<\/sup> and early 21st centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, as we\u2019ve discussed dozens of times at Climate Realism<\/em><\/a>, CO2 driven temperature changes projected by climate models don\u2019t, in fact, accurately reflect recent warming trends. Ground-level temperature measurements, weather balloon temperature measurements, and satellite temperature measurements are far lower than model projections built on the assumption that CO2 is the prime forcing factor for global warming. As a result, Willis is simply wrong when he says, \u201cthe amount of warming we see matches what we expect based on the increased CO2 we\u2019ve added.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The physics and factors that drive the Earth\u2019s climate conditions are many, varied, and complex. The Earth is not the simple linear system described in climate models and presented by Petersen and USA Today<\/em>. Carbon dioxide is likely one factor influencing the recent modest warming, but the sun and numerous other factors are almost certainly having an impact as well\u2014arguably playing role greater than the increase in greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USA Today\u00a0published a supposed fact check claiming solar activity is not responsible for climate change. This is misleading at best, and foolishly wrong at worst. Various types of changes in solar activity have long been associated with changes in the Earth\u2019s temperature and climate, on short, mid-term, and longer time scales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":303984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"USA Today\u00a0published a supposed fact check claiming solar activity is not responsible for climate change. This is misleading at best, and foolishly wrong at worst. Various types of changes in solar activity have long been associated with changes in the Ear","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691827125,691818056,691827126,691821204,691820888,691820785,691821044],"class_list":["post-303976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-11-year-solar-cycles","tag-climate-change","tag-cosmic-rays","tag-earths-climate","tag-milankovitch-cycles","tag-solar-activity","tag-usa-today","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-earth-and-sun.jpeg?fit=1920%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1h4Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":277370,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=277370","url_meta":{"origin":303976,"position":0},"title":"Geologist Dr. Ian Plimer counters USA Today\u2019s \u2018fact-check\u2019 on CO2 levels: Media\u2019s \u2018fact-checking resorted to lies & omissions\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It appears that fact-checking resorted to lies and omissions of pertinent information. 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In other words, to say that important causes of climate change might lie elsewhere means losing your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"astrophysicist Nir Shaviv\"","block_context":{"text":"astrophysicist Nir Shaviv","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=astrophysicist-nir-shaviv"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQNQjjXjEchEt8PH6BUA5CzyQwvjuBh7BLKw7e3mxeI-BXCg02t4Ebxu13GaLV187gsAp8zLOY0pbktHwuik-A3hoo0xvh-w-V_BGN7WwCd_0T56WyFGWRjqdXhlEC_5cLfZQS7JnW5ZVPo0oLrFO2IREMsXlA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQNQjjXjEchEt8PH6BUA5CzyQwvjuBh7BLKw7e3mxeI-BXCg02t4Ebxu13GaLV187gsAp8zLOY0pbktHwuik-A3hoo0xvh-w-V_BGN7WwCd_0T56WyFGWRjqdXhlEC_5cLfZQS7JnW5ZVPo0oLrFO2IREMsXlA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQNQjjXjEchEt8PH6BUA5CzyQwvjuBh7BLKw7e3mxeI-BXCg02t4Ebxu13GaLV187gsAp8zLOY0pbktHwuik-A3hoo0xvh-w-V_BGN7WwCd_0T56WyFGWRjqdXhlEC_5cLfZQS7JnW5ZVPo0oLrFO2IREMsXlA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQNQjjXjEchEt8PH6BUA5CzyQwvjuBh7BLKw7e3mxeI-BXCg02t4Ebxu13GaLV187gsAp8zLOY0pbktHwuik-A3hoo0xvh-w-V_BGN7WwCd_0T56WyFGWRjqdXhlEC_5cLfZQS7JnW5ZVPo0oLrFO2IREMsXlA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQNQjjXjEchEt8PH6BUA5CzyQwvjuBh7BLKw7e3mxeI-BXCg02t4Ebxu13GaLV187gsAp8zLOY0pbktHwuik-A3hoo0xvh-w-V_BGN7WwCd_0T56WyFGWRjqdXhlEC_5cLfZQS7JnW5ZVPo0oLrFO2IREMsXlA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":266612,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=266612","url_meta":{"origin":303976,"position":2},"title":"Understanding the role of the sun in climate change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Although the sun provides nearly all the energy needed to warm the planet, its contribution to climate change remains widely questioned. 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