Here we have the first of several solar cycles that affect the temperatures on Earth, hence Solar System Warming. Not to get too off track but I would like to send a former VP out into space to do some data gathering; of course he might have to tax himself so the gases in the space craft don’t get too al-noxious (you can put a little smiley face here). Anyway this fourth cycle is called the Schwabe cycle, also known as the eleven-year sunspot cycle.

Many warm and cold periods ago in 1843, an astronomer by the name of Samuel Schwabe was searching for a new planet closer to the Sun than Mercury. Supposedly this suspected planet was to be called Vulcan. During his searches he discovered that the Sunspots increased and decreases in an eleven years cycle. Just like today, when a real discovery is made no one notices. He didn’t get an award and he didn’t make a docudrama. In fact, his discovery didn’t make the news, especially the evening news, until many years later.

Today, we have years and years of data that show that the average sunspot cycle is around 131 months, or 10.9 years long. During the active periods of the cycle there are huge numbers of sun spots, and many are visible to the naked eye if you care to look at the sun. That is a no-no during the mid-day hours unless you have the proper equipment. I have seen them but only while the sun in on the horizon and I don’t look without good sunshades.
During the quiet periods there will be very few sun spots.

We are in one of those quiet periods right now and there are many things about this quiet period that the news media is not talking about. One thing is that we are currently experiencing one of the longest sun spot cycles and quietest sun spot minimums in the 300 year history of recorded sunspots. This is significant! And guess what? The intensity of sunspot activity runs in CYCLES! We will get to those is a later post.

Sunspot cycles are given numbers, and the one just ending is cycle 23. The new cycle that we are waiting on to ramp up will be cycle 24. If you track backwards in time you will get to Cycle 1 and past that the cycles are given negative numbers. Thanks to Galileo, we have sunspot records back to the 1600s. If you do some research on tree rings and the like you can track sun spot cycles back even further.

Here is the issue at hand, Sun Spot Cycle 23 began in March of 1996, over 150 months or 12.8 years ago and Cycle 24 has yet to be considered ‘started’. THis means that we are experiencing a long quiet period of solar activity. Trust me, there have been many AGW scientists who have wanted to claim that cycle 24 has begun; and there have been positive sunspots indicating the presence of a new cycle, but Cycle 23 has to die-off first. (I used the term ‘positive’ to define Cycle 24 sunspots because sunspot cycles alternate in polarity: Odd numbered cycles have negative polarity sunspots and even-positive ones. This alternating polarity creates a, guess what? Another cycle, we call the Hale Cycle. I’ll take up the significant of that cycle next time.

So what is the significance of the Schwabe Cycle, you may ask? Well, when the sun is in the active period of the 11-year cycle the Solar Wind, Solar Flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections increase in number and intensity. When the Solar Wind increases, it affects the magnetic field of our planet. It also repels Cosmic Radiation and keeps them from striking the earth. Solar Flares and CMEs significantly affect our planet in many ways other than creating a beautiful aurora borealis. These events can and do cause the upper atmosphere (ionosphere) of the earth to HEAT up! These events also hinder Cosmic Radiation from striking the earth.

So now you ask, what is it about Cosmic Radiation that makes it so important that I mentioned it twice in a single paragraph? Cosmic Radiation creates CLOUDS, low level clouds that shield the earth from the heat of the sun! When the Sun is very active then there are fewer clouds and more heat, GLOBAL WARMING. When the sun is quiet, like it is now, more Cosmic Radiation enters our atmosphere and creates more clouds causing GLOBAL COOLING! Remember the energy cycle: clouds reflect solar radiation?

There is empirical evidence that proves everything I just wrote. It is fairly new information, but not as new as the docudrama mentioned previously. Our Sun is the cause of climate change, not some dairy cow flatulence. If the AGW Terrorist al-Gore wants to tax something, have him tax the Sun. I will put in money to send him there; and the sooner the better.

Now one last thing; scientist are still debating on the cause of the eleven-year (Schwabe) cycle. That is right, the science is not settled, but I have a clue for you. The earth, Venus, and Mercury come into a good alignment with the sun on an average of every 11 years and in a near perfect alignment every 22 years (Hale Cycle anyone). I believe that we and our close neighbors cause the solar cycle that affects our climate.

Hmm, TAX that!