Solar fluctuations and climate change
2014-08-20
The sun is the main source of energy to the Earth, yet the effect of variability in solar energy on the Earth’s climate is not clearly recognized. The Sun activity varies on a different length of natural cycles that extend from 11 to 200 years. The mechanisms behind these cycles are still unknown. A new study through cooperation between Uppsala University (department of Earth Sciences and the Tandem Laboratory) and Lund University has, for the first time, reconstructed solar activity during the last ice age (Adolphi et al., Nature Geoscience, 17 Aug. 2014 | DOI: 10.1038/NGEO2225). The research shows that the variability in the activity of the sun was rather constant during the last 20000 years.
During the ice age (20000 to 11000 years ago), North Europe was covered by a thick ice sheet and half of the North American continent was ice covered. The global sea level was more than 100 meters lower than today because of the water stored in the enormous ice caps. The new data indicate that the solar activity has influenced the climate in a similar way as during the last decades.
The solar contribution to the warming during the last 150 years is still discussed and it has been suggested that the decreasing solar activity during the last two decades contributed to less-than-expected global warming during this period. However, the mechanism behind the solar influence on climate is unclear since the variations of the energy output from the Sun have been measured to be quite small over a solar 11-yr cycle.
Alternative explanations have suggested that the solar UV radiation has an influence on the atmospheric circulation leading to, for example, colder winters in Northern Europe with low solar activity (as we have experienced in during the last solar minimum in 2009/2010). Interestingly, the same process leads to winter warming over Greenland with increased snowfall due to stronger southerly winds in that area.
Furthermore, the comparison of the solar proxies with climate proxies from the ice cores shows a similar linkage as can be seen during the past decades. Low solar activity is accompanied with more winter snow accumulation in Greenland and more storminess transporting sea spray to Central Greenland. The global impact of such a climate in the northern pole needs to be further modelled for the mid and tropical latitudes.
Finding these sun-climate linkages during two very different climate regimes, Holocene and glacial conditions, supports the hypothesis that the solar variability is a general driver for, at least, regional climate change. It indicates that indirect effects on atmospheric circulation might be more important than the direct effects via the variable energy output from the Sun.
News archive 2014
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Framtidens behov av fosfor kommer hänga på ett enda land - Marocko
2014-12-19
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Missa inte möjligheten att se förvaltningens geologiska grund!
2014-12-11
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Mineralogical Society's best paper award to Ester M. Jolis
2014-12-04
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Oljepriset det lägsta på fyra år
2014-12-03
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Geologisk julkalender - öppna och lär
2014-12-01
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TREASURE – nytt forskningsprojekt för en renare Östersjö
2014-11-27
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Hemin Koyi intervjuas om norska Mannen
2014-11-25
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Why glaciers that flow into the ocean are extremely sensitive to climate change
2014-11-11
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Falling oil prices hard on Russia
2014-11-11
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11 million granted by the Swedish Research Council for research at Geo
2014-11-05
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Första diamanterna i svenskt berg upptäckta
2014-10-30
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Professorsinstallation och föreläsning den 13 november
2014-10-29
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Baltic Sea important for Russian oil export
2014-10-27
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Vinnare av Årets geovetenskapliga bild 2014
2014-10-24
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More common that tornados occur several at a time
2014-10-23
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Ny nätbaserad utbildning om vindkraft
2014-10-21
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The falling oil price may presage a future recession
2014-10-20
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Mentor programme for researchers at Uppsala University
2014-10-15
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Geophysical survey of fault fissure in Bollnäs
2014-10-15
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Photo exhibition in Geocentrum foyer October 8 through 17
2014-10-08
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Sudden volcanic eruption
2014-10-06
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Bardarbunga riskerar på explosivt utbrott
2014-09-26
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Subterranean infrastructure in an urban environment
2014-09-18
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Kraftigt jordskalv i södra Härjedalen
2014-09-16
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"Rut och Rot" lessen the need of natural resources for economic growth
2014-09-15
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Alumnföreläsning med Pär Holmgren
2014-09-09
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Saturday 13th is Geology's Day
2014-09-08
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Sweden's longest core sample
2014-09-01
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Supply of energy affects growth
2014-08-28
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Eruption risk beneath Vatnajökull is now smaller
2014-08-27
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Nytt vindkraftcentrum i samarbete med KTH
2014-08-25
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Solar fluctuations and climate change
2014-08-20
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Intense seismic activity at volcano Bardarbunga
2014-08-19
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Earthquake close to Bornholm
2014-08-18
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Steffi Burchardt is awarded Uppsala University's Oscar Prize
2014-07-31
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New research project investigates pollution along Sweden's Baltic coast
2014-06-26
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Swishing wind turbines continue to annoy
2014-06-23
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A tale of two magmas
2014-06-23
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Popular science article on new Burgess Shale Site
2014-06-18
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Part of Baltic Sea floor is dead
2014-06-09
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US climate change regulations to cut carbon emission
2014-06-03
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Ash cloud over Australia
2014-06-02
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Jordbävning utanför Greklands kust
2014-05-26
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Urtida djur byggde skyddande ”sandslott”
2014-05-15
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Shrinking helped dinosaurs and birds to keep evolving
2014-05-12
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Vinterväder i början av maj inte helt ovanligt
2014-05-06
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Fyrisån water level low before river rafting event
2014-04-25
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Abigail and Manuela on IODP expedition to the Mariana Trench
2014-04-22
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Skifferoljans betydelse i framtiden
2014-04-22
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Mer miljö på högskolan
2014-04-15
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Hydraulic fracturing on its way to Europe?
2014-04-08
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Sound from wind turbines change landscape
2014-03-04
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UK floods could happen in Sweden
2014-02-27
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Frozen magma filled-fractures allow a peak into the volcano
2014-02-24
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New study predict volcanic eruptions
2014-02-19
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New Burgess Shale site discovery
2014-02-11
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Upsala glacier fastest to melt
2014-01-20
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Benjamin Kear om Saudifossilerna
2014-01-13
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Prizes to our earth science students
2013-04-10
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What should the Norwegian part of the Scandinavian mountains be called?
2013-03-22