Establishing a key link between the solar cycle and global climate, new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) shows that maximum solar activity and its aftermath have impacts on Earth that resemble La Nina and El Nino events in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The research may pave the way toward better predictions of temperature and precipitation patterns at certain times during the Sun’s cycle, which lasts approximately 11 years. The total energy reaching Earth from the Sun varies by only 0.1 percent across the solar cycle. Scientists have sought for decades to link these ups and downs to natural weather and climate variations and distinguish their subtle effects from the larger pattern of human-caused global warming. Building on previous work, NCAR researchers used computer models of global climate and more than a century of ocean temperature data to answer longstanding questions about the connection between solar activity and global climate. Changes in greenhouse gases were also included in the model, but the main focus of the study is to examine the role of solar variability in climate change. The research, published this month in the Journal of Climate, was funded by the National […]