In his book The Chilling Stars, Henrik Svensmark explains his theory that changes in solar magnetic wind output could control changes in cloud formation on Earth and thus control changes in Earth’s surface temperature. Here’s how it works: Earth is bathed in a current of cosmic rays coming from other stars in and beyond the Milky Way. When cosmic rays collide with certain molecules in our atmosphere, they break those apart and form new compounds, some of which, electrically charged, are excellent nuclei for condensation of water vapor–that is, for the formation of clouds. Clouds, in turn, have a net cooling effect on the Earth by reflecting solar energy back into space before it reaches the surface.
The cosmic ray current isn’t steady. It varies. The stronger it is, the more clouds form, cooling the Earth–and vice versa. But what causes cosmic ray current to vary? Svensmark has shown very strong correlation between it and the strength of solar magnetic wind–the two vary in tandem, and the solar wind, in turn, varies in tandem with solar energy output. Many scientists, including those working with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, long thought the variation in solar energy output (about 0.1%) was simply too slight to explain late twentieth-century global warming, but they were considering only the energy flux. If Svensmark is right, then solar energy flux is magnified by solar wind flux’s effect on cosmic rays and, through them, on cloud formation.
Svensmark argues that the solar wind/cosmic ray/cloud connection is sufficient to explain the vast majority of all observed global temperature change. Not all scientists accept his theory, and some have even called it discredited. But the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), which funded Svensmark’s earlier research, has now funded more comprehensive research, indicating that its leaders respect the work. It could spell the end of manmade global warming doom-saying, as suggested by the powerful correlation shown in the accompanying graph.
