 Poster: A snowHead
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New research has linked low solar activity to cold UK winters (and Europe) . Could this mean more snow for ski resorts in Europe? ...
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The UK and continental Europe could be gripped by more frequent cold winters in the future as a result of low solar activity, say researchers.
They identified a link between fewer sunspots and atmospheric conditions that "block" warm, westerly winds reaching Europe during winter months.
But they added that the phenomenon only affected a limited region and would not alter the overall global warming trend.
The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
"By recent standards, we have just had what could be called a very cold winter and I wanted to see if this was just another coincidence or statistically robust," said lead author Mike Lockwood, professor of space environment physics at the University of Reading, UK.
To examine whether there was a link, Professor Lockwood and his co-authors compared past levels of solar activity with the Central England Temperature (CET) record, which is the world's longest continuous instrumental record of such data.
Picture of a Thames "forest fayre" in 1716 (Getty Images)
"Frost fayres" were held on the Thames during the Maunder Minimum
The researchers used the 351-year CET record because it provided data that went back to the beginning of the Maunder Minimum, a prolonged period of very low activity on the Sun that lasted about half a century.
The Maunder Minimum occurred in the latter half of the 17th Century - a period when Europe experienced a series of harsh winters, which has been dubbed by some as the Little Ice Age. Following this, there was a gradual increase in solar activity that lasted 300 years.
Professor Lockwood explained that studies of activity on the Sun, which provides data stretching back over 9,000 years, showed that it tended to "ramp up quite slowly over about a 300-year period, then drop quite quickly over about a 100-year period".
He said the present decline started in 1985 and was currently about "half way back to a Maunder Minimum condition".
This allowed the team to compare recent years with what happened in the late 1600s.
"We found that you could accommodate both the Maunder Minimum and the last few years into the same framework," he told BBC News. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8615789.stm
The full article goes into some depth about it, which is unusual for the BBC site.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Dwarf Vader, good article, but i'm a bit wary of the researchers interpretation of
| bbc news wrote: |
| ...studies of activity on the Sun, which provides data stretching back over 9,000 years... |
not sure about this, but humans only really managed to view "activities on the sun" properly in the last 400 hundred years, if that, no? or are they allowed a bit of plasticity in that interpretation?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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sherlock235, agreed, I did not see how some of the finding were quantified.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Does this mean we can ignore the irritating Al Gore and stop spending billions on idiot schemes to reduce our so-called 'carbon footprints'? 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Lizzard, no, if you read the article, it has to do with the jet stream been moved so that the prevalent winds will come to Europe from the NE i.e. the colder stuff.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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However as a result of Icelandic eruptions all the snow will be black
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Boris, I'm used to funny coloured snow in Serre Che from time to time due to sand from the Sahara.
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Helen Beaumont, would that be yellow snow? I can make that 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Now there are more cold spells in winter and more chance to ski.
This time last year or two SH were arguing about skiing would end soon due to global warming!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| saikee wrote: |
Now there are more cold spells in winter and more chance to ski.
This time last year or two SH were arguing about skiing would end soon due to global warming! |
Lol Indeed there were. Just shows how little we really know. 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Given that the Sun provides well over 90% of the Earth's heat, any minor changes up or down will have an impact.
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| saikee wrote: |
Now there are more cold spells in winter and more chance to ski.
This time last year or two SH were arguing about skiing would end soon due to global warming! |
That's just a plan by stanton to stop anyone going skiing when he does
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You know it makes sense.
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Whitegold, do you have a reputable reference for a precise assessment of the contrubutions of solar and geothermal energy?
sherlock235, assessment of the sun's activity is not done just by historical records: can also be done by looking at various isotopes: see the paragraph "Through what extremes has solar radiation changed in the past?" in this article from the U.S. Global Change Research Information Office .
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Whitegold, also some research is linking sun spot activity and subsequent solar wind (or not) to cloud formation. The theory goes (if I've recall) that a reduction in Sun Spot activity = less solar wind = less particles entering the atmosphere = less clouds = less warming effect from water vapor.
So, the current period of low sun spot activity is likely to lead to colder times.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Jonpim wrote: |
| Whitegold, do you have a reputable reference for a precise assessment of the contrubutions of solar and geothermal energy? |
I looked up at the sky.
There was a giant fireball in it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Whitegold, an acute observation, and something which many 'climate change experts' have failed to spot. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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FAQ
