Scientists Said Sun Caused Global Warming – 1998
By Paul Homewood
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/56456.stm
Back in 1998, the BBC reported:
Climate changes such as global warming may be due to changes in the sun rather than to the release of greenhouse gases on Earth.
Climatologists and astronomers speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Philadelphia say the present warming may be unusual – but a mini ice age could soon follow.
The sun provides all the energy that drives our climate, but it is not the constant star it might seem.
Careful studies over the last 20 years show that its overall brightness and energy output increases slightly as sunspot activity rises to the peak of its 11-year cycle.
And individual cycles can be more or less active.
The sun is currently at its most active for 300 years.
That, say scientists in Philadelphia, could be a more significant cause of global warming than the emissions of greenhouse gases that are most often blamed.
The researchers point out that much of the half-a-degree rise in global temperature over the last 120 years occurred before 1940 – earlier than the biggest rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
Ancient trees reveal most warm spells are caused by the sun
Using ancient tree rings, they show that 17 out of 19 warm spells in the last 10,000 years coincided with peaks in solar activity.
They have also studied other sun-like stars and found that they spend significant periods without sunspots at all, so perhaps cool spells should be feared more than global warming. The scientists do not pretend they can explain everything, nor do they say that attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be abandoned. But they do feel that understanding of our nearest star must be increased if the climate is to be understood.
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Comment: After taking billions in grant money, scientists now know better.
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Related Links:
Flashback 1957: Then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson Believed Governments Would Be Able to Control Weather – Johnson Controlled The Rise Of The Seas Before Obama Was Born? – New York Times – April 17, 1976 excerpts: “From space one could control the earth’s weather, cause drought and floods, change the tides and raise the levels of the sea, make temperate climate frigid,” then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson told a joint session of Congress in 1957. Like many other legislators, he accepted Defense Department fantasies that the United States was in a race with the Soviet Union to develop environmental weapons.”
Flashback 1979: Climate Experts Warned That An Increase In Antarctic Sea Ice Could Lead To A New Ice Age – In 1979, a top climate scientist said that an increase in Antarctic sea ice could lead to a new ice age.
Experts Tell How Antarctic’s Ice Could Cause Widespread Floods – Mushy Ice Beneath Sheet – Article – NYTimes.com – Since he made this forecast, Antarctic sea ice has increased to record levels.
‘Boats could be launched from the bottom of the steps of the Capitol’ in DC – Flashback 1979: Steven Schneider ‘was peddling the identical West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse theory which is being recycled’ currently – New York Times – January 8, 1979: ‘If the West Antarctic Ice sheet slips into the sea, as some glaciologists believe is possible, boats could be launched from the bottom of the steps of the Capitol in Washington and a third of Florida would be under water, a climate specialist said today. He was Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, acting leader of the of the Climate Sensitivity Group at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. Dr. Schneider spoke on climate change as a potential hazard at a session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which is conducting its annual meeting here. Other participants in the discussion of such an Antarctic “surge” suggested, however, that while the slippage could occur within a century, it probably would take longer and there was no evidence that the slippage was imminent.”
Flashback 1978: Government Experts Said No End In Sight To Global Cooling – Polar Vortex Increasing
1974 State Of The Climate Report – Global Cooling Will Kill Us All – ‘1974 climate report said that global cooling was going to cause floods, famines, extreme weather, and would kill us all.’
Flashback 1972 LA Times: The Arctic to become ice-free by the year 2000
Global Temperature Update: Still no global warming for 17 years 9 months – Since Sept. 1996
