Solar Variability And Planetary Climates

This book provides an updated overview of the processes determining the influence of solar forcing on climate. It discusses in particular the most recent developments regarding the role of aerosols in the climate system and the new insights that could be gained from the investigation of terrestrial climate analogues. The book’s structure mirrors that of the ISSI workshop held in Bern in June 2005.

The Earth's climate system depends entirely on the Sun for its energy. Solar radiation warms the atmosphere and is fundamental to atmospheric composition, while the distribution of solar heating across the planet produces global wind patterns and contributes to the formation of clouds, storms, and rainfall. The Sun’s Influence on Climate provides an unparalleled introduction to this vitally important relationship. This accessible primer covers the basic properties of the Earth’s climate system, the structure and behavior of the Sun, and the absorption of solar radiation in the atmosphere. It explains how solar activity varies and how these variations affect the Earth’s environment, from long-term paleoclimate effects to century timescales in the context of human-induced climate change, and from signals of the 11-year sunspot cycle to the impacts of solar emissions on space weather in our planet’s upper atmosphere. Written by two of the leading authorities on the subject, The Sun’s Influence on Climate is an essential primer for students and nonspecialists alike.

Heliophysics is a fast-developing scientific discipline that integrates studies of the Sun's variability, the surrounding heliosphere, and the environment and climate of planets. Over the past few centuries, our understanding of how the Sun drives space weather and climate on the Earth and other planets has advanced at an ever increasing rate. This 2010 volume, the last in this series of three heliophysics texts, focuses on long-term variability from the Sun's decade-long sunspot cycle and considers the evolution of the planetary system over ten billion years from a climatological perspective. Topics covered range from the dynamo action of stars and planets to processes in the Earth's troposphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere and their effects on planetary climate and habitability. Supplemented by online teaching materials, it can be used as a textbook for courses or as a foundational reference for researchers in fields from astrophysics and plasma physics to planetary and climate science.

Heliophysics is a fast-developing scientific discipline that integrates studies of the Sun's variability, the surrounding heliosphere, and the environment and climate of planets. Over the past few centuries, our understanding of how the Sun drives space weather and climate on the Earth and other planets has advanced at an ever increasing rate. This volume, the last in a series of three heliophysics texts, focuses on long-term variability from the Sun's decade-long sunspot cycle and considers the evolution of the planetary system over ten billion years from a climatological perspective. Topics covered range from the dynamo action of stars and planets to processes in the Earth's troposphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere and their effects on planetary climate and habitability. Supplemented by online teaching materials, it can be used as a textbook for courses or as a foundational reference for researchers in fields from astrophysics and plasma physics to planetary and climate science. Other volumes in this series: Heliophysics: Plasma Physics of the Local Cosmos (Volume I) Heliophysics: Space Storms and Radiation: Causes and Effects (Volume II)

On September 8-9, 2011, experts in solar physics, climate models, paleoclimatology, and atmospheric science assembled at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado for a workshop to consider the Sun's variability over time and potential Sun-climate connections. While it does not provide findings, recommendations, or consensus on the current state of the science, The Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate: A Workshop Report briefly introduces the primary topics discussed by presenters at the event. As context for these topics, the summary includes background information on the potential Sun-climate connection, the measurement record from space, and potential perturbations of climate due to long-term solar variability. This workshop report also summarizes some of the science questions explored by the participants as potential future research endeavors.

Are variations in the energy generated by the Sun sufficient to modify the Earth's global environment at levels comparable to expected anthropogenic changes? Debated contentiously for more than a century, this question must now be posed with new urgency: the proper specification of natural global changes is a prerequisite for detecting anthropogenic impacts. Important advances over the past decade in our knowledge of the Sun and of the terrestrial responses to solar variability provides the basis for answering this question with unprecedented surety, but significant uncertainties remain. This book addresses current monitoring and understanding of solar influences on both the climate system and the ozone layer and prioritizes the research effort that will be needed to provide a sound scientific basis for policymaking related to global change issues.

The luminosity of the sun governs the temperatures of the planets. Yet the solar forcing, or driving, of climate, primarily due to changes in solar radiation, has never been well documented. Recent satellite measurements have shown that solar radiation varies as a function of time and wavelength, a concept that has been hypothesized for the past two centuries and has recently become a major topic with all the attention paid to global warming. This book reviews the physics of the concept of solar forcing, from its beginnings in the early 1800's and apparent success in the 1870's, to its near demise in the 1950's and recent resurgence. Since its emphasis is on solar variations as a driver for climate change, with only a brief discussion of other mechanisms, the book will be of most interest to students in climate studies.