Posted on 10/03/2006 8:57:31 PM PDT by blam
Of course they occurred; at least an overwhelming amount of evidence points to the fact that they did.
Of course the warming and cooling experienced during those periods was between .5 and 1.5 degrees celcius. It also changed over a 3-400 year period. We have experienced the 1 degree celcius change in less than a century and are looking at up to 3 degrees over the next. As I have previusly mentioned, it might just be terrible timing that we are combining man-made influences with natural cycles to produce a much greater than natural change.
And this from a Danish source:
"An essential role for remote stars in everyday weather on Earth has been revealed by an experiment at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen."
"It is already well-established that when cosmic rays, which are high-speed atomic particles originating in exploded stars far away in the Milky Way, penetrate Earths atmosphere they produce substantial amounts of ions and release free electrons. Now, results from the Danish experiment show that the released electrons significantly promote the formation of building blocks for cloud condensation nuclei on which water vapour condenses to make clouds."
The complete article can be found here:
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/physik_astronomie/bericht-71378.html
This makes a lot of sense when we consider what can be seen in a 'cloud chamber' experiment.
Check out post 22 and in particular this paragraph in the source link.
"Interestingly, during the 20th Century, the Suns magnetic field which shields Earth from cosmic rays more than doubled, thereby reducing the average influx of cosmic rays. The resulting reduction in cloudiness, especially of low-altitude clouds, may be a significant factor in the global warming Earth has undergone during the last century. However, until now, there has been no experimental evidence of how the causal mechanism linking cosmic rays and cloud formation may work."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.