The sun has always been one of the prime drivers for the weather, which creates climate in the long-term. This has been inconvenient for the Cult of Climastrology. So, what is a good little cultist to do?
(CBS News) Sunspots have long been used by climate skeptics to explain away a rise in global temperatures.
They argued that solar activity appeared to trend upwards over the past 300 years, on pace with global temperatures, peaking in the late 20th century. This, adherents say, demonstrates that the sun has played a significant role in modern climate change.But now a group of scientists has found that one method for counting sunspots — as a measure of solar activity — was wrong. Called the Group Sunspot Number, this method showed a rise in sunspots from 1885 to 1945 culminating in what is called the Modern Grand Maximum.
By recalibrating that method in what they call Sunspot Number Version 2.0, Frédéric Clette, director of the World Data Centre, Ed Cliver of the National Solar Observatory and Leif Svalgaard of Stanford University, concluded that sunspot activity had been relatively stable since the 1700s and that there was no Modern Grand Maximum.
The team, which presented its results at the International Astronomical Union in Hawaii, said the findings closely mirror another historical record for sunspot activity, the Wolf Sunspot Number.
The latest findings make it difficult to explain the observed changes in the climate that started in the 18th century and extended through the Industrial Revolution to the 20th century as being significantly influenced by natural solar trends.
Surprise!
