The research, conducted by paleoclimatologist Curt Stager of Paul Smith’s College in Paul Smiths, N.Y. and colleagues, can be used by public health officials to increase measures against insect-borne diseases long before epidemics begin. Studying sunspots may lead to better prediction of disease in East Africa. (Credit: Curt Stager, Paul Smith’s College) The scientists showed that unusually heavy rainfalls in East Africa over the past century preceded peak sunspot activity by about one year. ‘The hope is that people on the ground will use this research to predict heavy rainfall events,’ Stager said. ‘Those events lead to erosion, flooding and disease. With the help of these findings, we can now say when especially rainy seasons are likely to occur, several years in advance.’ ‘These results are an important step in applying paleoclimate analyses to predicting future environmental conditions and their impacts on society,’ said Dave Verardo, director of the National Science Foundation’s paleoclimate program, which funded the research. ‘It’s especially important in a region [East Africa] perennially on the knife-edge of sustainability.’ Sunspots indicate an increase in the sun’s energy output, and peak on an 11-year cycle. The next peak is expected in 2011-12. If […]