Posted on 03/19/2007 7:41:38 AM PDT by rivercat
The entire solar system appears to be warming up lately. What's the root cause?
As an update to my story earlier this month on the discovery of global warming on Mars, I thought it appropriate to survey the rest of the solar system. Global warming was detected on Jupiter last year, and the warming is apparently behind the formation of a second red spot. Global warming on Neptune's moon Triton has also been noted, with severe atmospheric changes as a result. And even tiny Pluto has experienced moderate warming in recent years, with temperatures rising a full 3.5 degrees.
The common denominator in all these cases, the Earth included, is of course the Sun, which is in the middle of an extremely active period at present. The last time it was so active was during the Medieval Warm Period of 700 years ago, a period where the Earth was warmer than it is today. Interestingly enough, the period in which it was least active (the Maunder Minimum) corresponds with the Little Ice Age the earth experienced in the 17th century.
Such correlations are causing many scientists to consider the Sun the primary cause of terrestrial climate change. The initial problem with this theory was that the changes in solar flux didn't appear to be enough to account for the warming.
However the research of scientist Henrik Svensmark of the Danish Space Research Institute has provided the missing link. Increased solar activity not only warms the earth directly, it increases the strength of the solar winds. This reduces the amount of cosmic radiation striking the earth, which directly reduces the formation rate of clouds. Less clouds = more warming.
Astrophysicist Nir Shaviv reconstructed 550 million years of Earth's climate change history. He found that 2/3 of the temperature variance could be explained by changes in cosmic flux alone, without even considering the direct influence of solar heating.
This has always been a weak point of CO2-based models, which have never been able to succesfully explain these warming and cooling trends in our past.
Clearly Bush's fault.
Nah, he deserves the Oscar simply due to the fact that he's managed to convince millions of slack jawed morons of a convenient untruth.
The CO2-ists explanation for global warming on Mars is that Mars' wobble, not the sun, is responsible for its warming. I guess this news kinda blows that theory out of the water.
Damn those SUVs!!!
It looks like algore has much work yet to do.
MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2007 1800 GMT (2:00 p.m. EDT)
Launch of the Falcon 1 rocket remains targeted for 2300 GMT today. SpaceX plans to begin providing live updates to the news media one hour prior to launch.
spaceflightnow.com
MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2007
2229 GMT (6:29 p.m. EDT)
"We're still having data connectivity problems. The rocket is fine. Everything is good there. We're still trying to determine whether we can launch without the data in El Segundo," Shotwell says.
2219 GMT (6:19 p.m. EDT)
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development, just told reporters following today's launch that there has been some difficulty getting the telemetry stream from Omelek Island to the company's headquarters in El Segundo, California. Shotwell indicated that the data transmission was a requirement for the launch to proceed today.
2200 GMT (6:00 p.m. EDT)
The final hour of the countdown should be getting underway. It is a sunny and windy day on Omelek Island. We expect a status from SpaceX momentarily.
About ten minutes to blastoff, but no fresh news.
spaceflightnow.com
2252 GMT (6:52 p.m. EDT)
"The data is back up in El Segundo. I do believe we are a little bit behind in the count. I think we delayed some of the propellant loading activities," says Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development. "It looks good for today, which is obviously good news."
How far behind the countdown is running or the target launch time isn't clear at the moment.
spaceflightnow.com
2257 GMT (6:57 p.m. EDT)
NEW LAUNCH TIME. Liftoff is now targeted for 2345 GMT (7:45 p.m. EDT). Fueling of the rocket had been suspended while trying to correct the data transmission problem between Omelek Island and the company's headquarters in El Segundo, California. So the launch team is now working to get back on track for liftoff.
spaceflightnow.com
2315 GMT (7:15 p.m. EDT)
Now 30 minutes to launch of Falcon 1.
Stealth live thread continues:
spaceflightnow.com
2325 GMT (7:25 p.m. EDT)
T-minus 20 minutes and counting.
2324 GMT (7:24 p.m. EDT)
The loading of kerosene propellant and liquid oxygen into the two-stage Falcon rocket has been completed.
2323 GMT (7:23 p.m. EDT)
Range Safety reports the resticted areas around the launch site are clear for liftoff. Also, winds have been verified acceptable.
spaceflightnow.com
2328 GMT (7:28 p.m. EDT)
A status poll of launch team members indicated no problems.
spaceflightnow.com
2331 GMT (7:31 p.m. EDT)
T-minus 14 minutes. The mission director reports he is "go" for launch. No further holds in the countdown are planned.
2333 GMT (7:33 p.m. EDT)
T-minus 12 minutes.
2335 GMT (7:35 p.m. EDT)
Countdown has entered the final 10 minutes to launch.
2336 GMT (7:36 p.m. EDT)
The strong-back structure that has been against the side of the Falcon 1 rocket is now slowly lowering away from the vehicle.
2337 GMT (7:37 p.m. EDT)
T-minus 8 minutes.
2338 GMT (7:38 p.m. EDT)
T-minus 6 minutes, 30 seconds. The flight termination system has been confirmed ready.
2338 GMT (7:38 p.m. EDT)
T-minus 7 minutes. The strong-back is fully retracted.
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