30-11-10 New theory of climate change

Man-made carbon dioxide is generally thought to produce global warming.However,in a recent article entitled "Does Carbon Dioxide Drive Global Warming?" I presented several major reasons why carbon dioxide is probably not the primary cause.But if carbon dioxide is not the cause,then what is? Evidence is accumulating that cosmic rays associated with fluctuations in the sun's electromagnetic field may be what drives global warming.A new theory called cosmoclimatology that proposes a natural mechanism for climate fluctuations has been developed by Henrik Svensmark,Head of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at the Danish National Space Center.Edward L. Maunder reported in 1904 that the number of spots on the sun has an 11-year cycle.Sunspots can be observed in real time online at www.spaceweather.com.Note the low number of sunspots in the period from 1645 to 1715.This period is called the Maunder Minimum4 and coincides with the Little Ice Age,the coldest period of temperature during the last 1,000 years.For many years,climatologists attempted to correlate the number of sunspots with various climate variables,including temperature and precipitation.By the 1980s these attempts were determined to be futile,because the percentage change in solar heating was found to be insufficient to explain the variations.However,this interest began to increase the connection between cosmic rays and sunspots,carbon-14 in the atmosphere,beryllium-10 on the surface of meteorites,and other processes.In particular,it was found that carbon-14 dating needed to be corrected for fluctuations in cosmic ray flux.Without such adjustments,many carbon-14 dates were inconsistent.The question was raised,could cosmic rays affect other geophysical phenomena as well? In 1995,Henrik Svensmark discovered a startling connection between the cosmic ray flux from space and cloud cover.He found that when the sun is more active--more sunspots,a stronger magnetic field,larger auroras,stronger solar winds,etc.--fewer cosmic rays strike the earth and cloud cover is reduced,resulting in warmer temperatures.