Does a stronger Sun actually cool Earth?

LONDON - An increase in the Sun’s solar activity actually cools the Earth, suggests a new research that will renew the debate over the science behind climate change.

The research overturns traditional assumptions about the relationship between the Sun and global warming.

Focused on a three-year snapshot of time between 2004 and 2007, the findings will be seized upon by those who believe that man’s role in increases in the Earth’s temperature has been overstated.

As solar activity waned at the end of one of the 11-year cycles of the Sun, the new data shows the amount of light and heat reaching the Earth rose rather than fell, reports the Telegraph.

Its impact on melting polar ice caps, and drying up rivers could, therefore, have been exaggerated by conventional climate models during the period, according to the journal Nature.

Over the past century, overall solar activity has been increasing and should, therefore, cool the Earth, yet global temperatures have increased.

Joanna Haigh of the Imperial College London, who led the study, said: “These results are challenging what we thought we knew about the Sun’s effect on our climate.

“However, they only show us a snapshot of the Sun’s activity and its behaviour over the three years of our study could be an anomaly.

“We cannot jump to any conclusion based on what we have found during this comparatively short period and we need to carry out further studies to explore the Sun’s activity and the patterns that we have uncovered on longer timescales.

She denied that it would fuel scepticism about climate change research.

The research is based on data from a satellite called SORCE (Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment) that has been measuring the sun’s energy output at X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths.