Neo, there are heat sinks on Earth, such as oceans for example. When heat arrives from solar peaks, it doesn't just disappear tomorrow. It accumulates and can cause more heating.
If heating melts snow cover, the green and brown underneath then absorbs more light instead of reflecting it, which causes more melting, more heating, more melting etc....
Sun spots are not the only variable.
Have a look at the overall spans for the first half of the century and the second half. Note that in the first half, solar was down and temperature was too. In the second half, solar was up and guess what? Yes, temperature was too. You don't even need to do maths to see the difference. It's not a starry night type graph where one is looking for hidden data among a swarm of dominant variables. It's staring you right in the face.
Which I hasten to add is still only correlation, not causation. But the sun is a big radiator and suspiciously related to climate on Earth. Yes, cloud, snow and plant cover have large effects too. CO2 levels might have a minor effect as well [other than as plant food].
Mqurice |
