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Sun's Activity Levels Reconstructed
neutron_p writes "An international team of scientists has reconstructed the Sun's activity over the last 11 millennia and forecasts decreased activity within a few decades. The activity of the Sun over the last 11,400 years, i.e., back to the end of the last ice age on Earth, has now for the first time been reconstructed quantitatively. The scientists have analyzed the radioactive isotopes in trees that lived thousands of years ago. As scientists report in the current issue of the science journal Nature, one needs to go back over 8,000 years in order to find a time when the Sun was, on average, as active as in the last 60 years."
In order to investigate the issue, NASA has announced that they are sending an unmanned space probe to the sun. In order to avoid the intense heat, they are planning on launching the probe at night.
Unknown host pong.
They've been around for so long and their Java-Interpreter is still not... Oh, wait, you mean that other sun, don't you?
If? IF?? To say the Earth's temp is affected significantly by the Sun is understatement of an absurd degree.
Yes, there is internal heat from radioactive decay, and perhaps some warming due to tidal forces, but I'd wager 99+% of the Earth's heat comes from the Sun.
As for "thermal inertia" let's take the extreme case. The Sun goes bye-bye, or its energy output drops to zero. How long do expect the Earth's temp would lag? More practically, seasonal changes in weather--are they more closely tied to the positions of the Earth and the Sun today? Or their positions several years ago, due to "thermal inertia"?
I'll see you at the next ice age!
OMFG guys! It's solar warming! Kill the Republicans!
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