Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Clouds, cosmic rays and climate change...

From CERN, buried in deepest Switzerland, (or thereabouts) news of research into the "large uncertainties" and fundamental relationships between cloud formation, cosmic rays and water droplets that constitute our atmosphere and determine global temperature...In its Fourth Assessment Report, February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attributes more than 90% of the observed climate warming since 1900 to the rise of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere [1]. Aerosols and clouds are recognised as representing the largest uncertainty in the current understanding of climate change. The IPCC estimates that changes of solar irradiance (direct solar forcing) have made only a small (7%) contribution to the observed warming. However, large uncertainties remain on possible other solar-related contributions, such as the effects of changes of ultra violet radiation or galactic cosmic rays on aerosols and clouds. So far, no quantitative estimates of galactic cosmic ray-induced changes in aerosol and cloud formation have been reached. Experiments are planned for the CERN PS215/CLOUD facility to quantitatively address this discrepancy...See more here...and here...

No comments: