New research suggests solar activity has little effect on Earthly climate change.
Scientists have long-believed that past cold spells or periods of warm weather may have been linked to "periodic fluctuations in solar activity"; a recent finding disputed this theory, a University of Edinburgh news release reported.
Scientists looked at 1000-years-worth of climate change history and found that until the 1800s volcanic activity was the key player in climate change.
Volcanic eruptions can block sunlight from the Earth's surface, resulting in cooler and drier weather.
Since the 1900s volcanoes lost their rank as "top climate change trigger." Greenhouse gas emissions took the lead as the top accelerator of temperature changes.
The research team looked at past temperature records as well as tree ring data and "other historical sources" to make their findings. The team compared this information with computer models outlining past climate changes that may have been triggered by solar activity.
The study suggests periods of mild solar activity do not interfere with temperatures on Earth. The findings could also help researchers make better predictions about future climate activity.
The team looked at how both major and minor solar activity influenced temperature changes on Earth. Using their computer model, the researchers found the strongest correlation between climate history and minor solar activity; this indicates solar activity has had little influence on climate fluctuations on Earth over the past thousand years.
"Until now, the influence of the sun on past climate has been poorly understood. We hope that our new discoveries will help improve our understanding of how temperatures have changed over the past few centuries, and improve predictions for how they might develop in future. Links between the sun and anomalously cold winters in the [U.K.] are still being explored," Doctor Andrew Schurer, of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, said in the news release.
