Spacecraft Sees Solar Storm Engulf Earth

[Saint in Paradise]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/18aug_cmemovie/

 

August 18, 2011: For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet. The movie, released today during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar physicists, who say it could lead to important advances in space weather forecasting.

 

“The movie sent chills down my spine,” says Craig DeForest of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "It shows a CME swelling into an enormous wall of plasma and then washing over the tiny blue speck of Earth where we live. I felt very small.”

[OldNick]

shows the suns influence on us. It may in time make us look at global warming differently

[Verbal]

shows the suns influence on us. It may in time make us look at global warming differently

 

So you think scientists somehow forgot that the sun has an effect on the earth's climate?!

 

Or that they hadn't thought about devising methods and measurements that distinguished between solar activity and human activity?!

[Saint in Paradise]

So you think scientists somehow forgot that the sun has an effect on the earth's climate?!

 

Or that they hadn't thought about devising methods and measurements that distinguished between solar activity and human activity?!

 

Perhaps they make more money by jumping on the global warming is only caused by man bandwagon ?

[Whitey Grandad]

So you think scientists somehow forgot that the sun has an effect on the earth's climate?!

 

Or that they hadn't thought about devising methods and measurements that distinguished between solar activity and human activity?!

 

There is no science at present quantifying the relationship between solar & cosmic radiation and its effect on the earth's weather, hence it is not included in any climate models. Perhaps we shall know more if this experiment gives us any new info:

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/spotlight/SpotlightCloud-en.html

[Verbal]

There is no science at present quantifying the relationship between solar & cosmic radiation and its effect on the earth's weather, hence it is not included in any climate models. Perhaps we shall know more if this experiment gives us any new info:

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/spotlight/SpotlightCloud-en.html

 

It doesn't need to be. Weather is of little or no interest to scientists concerned with effects on climate. There is a long history of scientific analysis of the relationship (or not, as it turns out) between solar activity and shifts in climate patterns. This whole argument was effectively debunked in the public debate that followed 'The Great Global Warming Swindle' on C4 a few years ago.

[Whitey Grandad]

It doesn't need to be. Weather is of little or no interest to scientists concerned with effects on climate. There is a long history of scientific analysis of the relationship (or not, as it turns out) between solar activity and shifts in climate patterns. This whole argument was effectively debunked in the public debate that followed 'The Great Global Warming Swindle' on C4 a few years ago.

 

There is a definite and unavoidable correlation between sunspot activity and the earth's climate. The solar activity to which you refer is total energy output which is, quite frankly, an unbelievably simplistic approach to the interaction between events on the sun and what happens here. If you examine the relationship between mean distance between the earth and the sun you will find a strong relationship with the occurrence of ice ages. The only warming effects on earth come from the sun. To pretend that what happens on the sun does not affect our climate (and weather) is preposterous.

[Verbal]

There is a definite and unavoidable correlation between sunspot activity and the earth's climate. The solar activity to which you refer is total energy output which is, quite frankly, an unbelievably simplistic approach to the interaction between events on the sun and what happens here. If you examine the relationship between mean distance between the earth and the sun you will find a strong relationship with the occurrence of ice ages. The only warming effects on earth come from the sun. To pretend that what happens on the sun does not affect our climate (and weather) is preposterous.

 

Quite, but the claim that solar activity correlates with global warming has long been debunked. That was the point I was making - not that solar activity has no influence in other ways (obviously it does).

[Whitey Grandad]

Quite, but the claim that solar activity correlates with global warming has long been debunked. That was the point I was making - not that solar activity has no influence in other ways (obviously it does).

The only 'debunking' I saw related to the total energy output from the sun and not to any possible effect of high-energy rays on cloud formation. As I said, there is no science for this at present so it is not included in any climate models.

[Verbal]

The only 'debunking' I saw related to the total energy output from the sun and not to any possible effect of high-energy rays on cloud formation. As I said, there is no science for this at present so it is not included in any climate models.

 

Hang on, aren't you the one who said because you were an engineer you were better than the scientists?

[Whitey Grandad]

Hang on, aren't you the one who said because you were an engineer you were better than the scientists?

 

That's me! Engineers (the real ones, not boiler repair men) are practical scientists. They have to both comprehend and apply the science. Theoretical scientists spend all their time trying to get funding for their pet theories and projects and very often fail to see the bigger picture. Some of them do some useful stuff but before you get too excited about their research you should always look to see who's funding it.

 

(My original comment didn't say 'better', I said that engineers were way ahead of scientists, or was it 'beyond'?)