I mentioned this Conference before, but it deserves closer attention IMO: ”Solar Activity during the onset of Solar Cycle 24″, a Conference sponsored by several prominent scientific organizations (NASA, etc), 8 – 12 December 2008. Home page; copies of the presentations.
The main goals of the meeting were to assess our current knowledge of solar activity, in order to prepare for observations in the new Carrington Cycle 24, and to encourage the most effective use of these observations. The meeting thus had special emphasis on the coordination of ACE, Hinode, STEREO, TRACE/SDO, SOHO, RHESSI and Wind observations, among other space and ground-based instruments.
I esp recomment “Solar Activity Cycles – Past and Future“, David Hathaway (NASA) — This provides valuable insights for laypeople about climate science, on several levels.
(1) Much of this presentation (esp slides 1 – 19) provides a rebuke to laypeople who consider a solar cycle 24 a certain source of global cooling, as seen in the comments on this site. As exemplified in this comment (humor, I hope) by M. Simon:
Climate change has already been solved. No sunspots today.
(2) Esp note slide #47. This cycle might tell us much about the dynamics of the solar cycle, as the major theories give radically divergent forecasts.
(3) His discussion of models in slides 30 – 47 is (speaking as a layman) exemplary: useful tools to be rigorously tested. We would know much more if his advice on slide 42 was general practice:
Given these caveats, independent confirmation of the model is needed.
Attention critics!
One of the many mysteries of the pro-AGW comments on this site is that they consider themselves to be speaking for “science”, yet I provide almost all the citations from mainstream science. And not just mindlessly listing articles, but providing some description and context.
The extreme case of this is the recent comment by ex-PFC Chuck. He refers to no scientific works, but has the audacity to say I rely on Stephen McIntyre and his climateaudit.org website. This is easily proven false, by the FM reference page Science & nature – studies & reports, listing the science articles mentioned on this site (it’s a long list).
Note the posts about the solar cycle, which cite the mainstream scientists in this field.
- A look at the science and politics of global warming, 12 June 2008
- More forecasts of a global cooling cycle, 15 July 2008
- Recommendations for your weekend reading, 31 August 2008
- Worrying about the Sun and climate change: cycle 24 is late, 10 July 2008
- Update: is Solar Cycle 24 late (a cooling cycle, with famines, etc)?, 15 July 2008
- Update on solar cycle 24 – and a possible period of global cooling, 1 October 2008
- Interesting reading for your weekend pleasure!, 22 November 2008
- Weekend reading recommenations, 13 December 2008
Here are some of the other posts on the FM site citing mainstream scientists about climate change:
- An article giving strong evidence of global warming, 30 June 2008
- Two valuable perspectives on global warming, 4 August 2008
- One of the most interesting sources of news about science and nature!, 27 October 2008
- Good news about global warming!, 21 October 2008
- This week’s report on the news in climate science, 7 December 2008
- The Senate Minority report is out: “More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims”, 12 December 2008
- An important new article about climate change, 29 December 2008
- High school science facts prove global warming! Skeptical scientists humiliated by this revelation!, 31 December 2008
Afterword
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For more information
To read other articles about these things, see the FM reference page on the right side menu bar. Of esp relevance to this topic:
- About Science & Nature – my articles
- About Science & nature – studies & reports
- About Science & Nature – the history of climate fears
