[neverdem]

What am I missing?

My guess is the original article.

"More UV radiation kills off some of the oceans' plankton, which produce dimethyl sulfide, one of the primary atmospheric chemicals involved in cloud formation, and fewer clouds mean less rainfall."

IMHO, that sentence needs more explanation.

piytar made a nice summary.

We Are the Green Team - Will Obama's environmental advisors spearhead a new global warming treaty by next year?

No sunspots -> less solar wind -> more cosmic rays -> more clouds -> more snow/rain and a cooler planet.

If lower solar magnetic activity leads to more UV hitting the earth killing plankton which results in less dimethyl sulfide which in turn leads to less cloud formation, wouldn't that lead to warming and not cooling???

It's more.

Plankton May Influence Climate Change Says UCSB Scientist

The findings indicate that phytoplankton will then produce more DMS(dimethyl sulfide) in response to this increased ultraviolet radiation, causing increasing cloudiness and mitigating the effects of global warming.

IMHO, it's another feedback loop that is fascinating, elegant and unlikely to happen by dumb luck.

[DB]

Thanks.

So that key sentence in the posted article is a bit funky leading to a wrong conclusion.

The original article essentially says the opposite of what the posted one implies.

[BossLady]

Here's some info including a model from NASA which shows how the phytoplanton comes and goes as it relates to El Nino and La Nina:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/plankton_elnino.html

Nice & Clear Cycle Chart on Nino/Nina Impact -

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ensoyears.shtml

[GOPJ]

IMHO, it's another feedback loop that is fascinating, elegant and unlikely to happen by dumb luck.

It does seem the earth is set up in a beautiful balance - with nice little balancing agents for when things get out of kilter. Gore is such a pompous as_.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[SunkenCiv]

“More UV radiation kills off some of the oceans’ plankton, which produce dimethyl sulfide, one of the primary atmospheric chemicals involved in cloud formation, and fewer clouds mean less rainfall.”

...and...

“The findings indicate that phytoplankton will then produce more DMS(dimethyl sulfide) in response to this increased ultraviolet radiation, causing increasing cloudiness and mitigating the effects of global warming.”

More UV results in more plankton, and also simultaneously results in less?

[SunkenCiv]

> observational evidence showing that the DMS-anti-oxidant mechanism closes the DMS-climate feedback loop

Thanks!