The Sun Climate Connection Over The Last Millennium Facts And Questions
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The Sun-Climate Connection Over the Last Millennium Facts and Questions by Maxim Ogurtsov,Risto Jalkanen,Markus Lindholm,Svetlana Veretenenko Pdf
The search for a cause of the global warming phenomenon on our planet has sparked some interest in the scientific community. The connection between changes occurring in the sun and global warming presents one fundamental perspective which has been investigated by a number of scientific research groups. In recent times, there have been some promising results that might help us uncover the clues about such a link. The Sun-Climate Connection over the Last Millennium: facts and questions presents fundamental information about the solar activity, space weather, terrestrial climates and their variations over an extended period of time. The information presented is a set of analyses based on modern methods of statistical analysis of non-stationary time series, including Fourier, wavelet and singular spectral analysis while considering space weather phenomena (solar winds, solar flares, aurora borealis etc.) and other terrestrial manifestations of solar activity. The physical mechanisms potentially linking solar activity and space weather to climate are discussed based on these analyses. The eBook also provides some context of modern millennial temperature reconstructions for explaining global warming in the 20th century. Scenarios of the solar activity and climate evolution throughout the 21st century are considered on the basis of the updated data. The eBook provides useful facts for researchers seeking information on climate and space research with respect to solar phenomena
The Climate Change Debate: A Reference Handbook provides an in-depth look at climate change facts and statistics. It also discusses debate surrounding the scientific consensus. The Climate Change Debate: A Reference Handbook covers the topic of climate change from the earliest days of planet Earth to the present day. Chapters One and Two provide a historical background of climate change and a review of current problems, controversies, and solutions. The remainder of the book consists of chapters that aid readers in continuing their own research on the topic, such as an extended annotated bibliography, chronology, glossary, noteworthy individuals and organizations in the field, and important data and documents. The variety of resources provided, such as further reading, perspective essays about climate change, a historical timeline, and useful terms in the climate change discourse, differentiates this book from others in the field. The book is intended for readers of high school through the community college level, along with adult readers who may be interested in the topic.
It may be counterintuitive: periods of high solar activity and high sunspot numbers - which are associated with a stable and more favorable climate - are also periods of increased mass excitability, war and genocide. In fact, throughout the last millennium, there were 4.6 times as many deaths from war, genocide and persecution during Grand Solar Maxima than there were in Grand Solar Minimum. In contrast, Grand Solar Minima - the 'bad-weather periods' - were times of relative peace, reason and of improvements of human rights.In the 1920s, the Russian scientist Alexander Tchijevsky discovered that social excitability, wars and rebellions unfolded primarily at the peaks of the 11-year solar cycles (Schwabe- cycles).I found that within the past 1000 years, what is true for the 11-years cycles, also applies to the non-periodical cycles of Grand Solar Minima and Maxima, recurring roughly every 200 or 400 years. Not only were most mass killings committed during these Grand Maxima, but the corresponding uprisings and rebellions mostly ended up in collectivist, totalitarian systems, that appealed to group ideologies, violent mob rule and imperialism. The narration of the history of this period is intended to illustrate this pattern and to warn of future repetitions. In addition to the multi decadal trends of wars and atrocities, we even find singular battles and mass hysteria in connection with the visible manifestations of high solar peaks, solar storms, visible sunspots and aurora. This book is about our future as much as it is about the past, as we are most likely entering the next Grand Solar Minimum within decades. If the trends of previous centuries continue, when the next Grand Solar Minimum begins, we can expect not only some inconvenient material adaptation processes, but ultimately also a social mood of increased reason, relative peace, rationality and the protection of human rights.This can give us a time window of between several decades and a hundred years to find out how we prevent the next round of mass killing and collectivist extremism in the future Solar Maximum. If we succeed, future generations may live in a world more peaceful than ever.
Reproducibility by Harald Atmanspacher,Sabine Maasen Pdf
2017 PROSE Award Honorable Mention The PROSE Awards draw attention to pioneering works of research and for contributions to the conception, production, and design of landmark works in their fields. Featuring peer-reviewed contributions from noted experts in their fields of research, Reproducibility: Principles, Problems, Practices, and Prospects presents state-of-the-art approaches to reproducibility, the gold standard of sound science, from multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives. Including comprehensive coverage for implementing and reflecting the norm of reproducibility in various pertinent fields of research, the book focuses on how the reproducibility of results is applied, how it may be limited, and how such limitations can be understood or even controlled in the natural sciences, computational sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and studies of science and technology. The book presents many chapters devoted to a variety of methods and techniques, as well as their epistemic and ontological underpinnings, which have been developed to safeguard reproducible research and curtail deficits and failures. The book also investigates the political, historical, and social practices that underlie reproducible research in contemporary science studies, including the difficulties of good scientific practice and the ethos of reproducibility in modern innovation societies. Reproducibility: Principles, Problems, Practices, and Prospects is a guide for researchers who are interested in the general and overarching questions behind the concept of reproducibility; for active scientists who are confronted with practical reproducibility problems in their everyday work; and for economic stakeholders and political decision makers who need to better understand the challenges of reproducibility. In addition, the book is a useful in-depth primer for undergraduate and graduate-level courses in scientific methodology and basic issues in the philosophy and sociology of science from a modern perspective. “A comprehensive, insightful treatment of the reproducibility challenges facing science today and of ways in which the scientific community can address them.” Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication, University of Pennsylvania “How can we make sure that reproducible research remains a key imperative of scientific communication under increasing commercialization, media attention, and publication pressure? This handbook offers the first interdisciplinary and fundamental treatment of this important question.”Torsten Hothorn, Professor of Biostatistics, University of Zurich Harald Atmanspacher, PhD, is Associate Fellow and staff member at Collegium Helveticum, ETH and University Zurich and is also President of the Society for Mind-Matter Research. He has pioneered advances in complex dynamical systems research and in a number of topics concerned with the relation between the mental and physical. Sabine Maasen, PhD, is Professor for Sociology of Science and Director of the Munich Center for Technology in Society (TU Munich) and Associate Fellow at Collegium Helveticum (ETH and University Zurich). Her research focuses on the interface of science, technology, and society, notably with respect to neuroscience and its applications.
The Role of the Sun in Climate Change by Douglas V. Hoyt,Kenneth H. Schatten Pdf
The luminosity of the sun governs the temperatures of the planets. Yet the solar forcing, or driving, of climate, primarily due to changes in solar radiation, has never been well documented. Recent satellite measurements have shown that solar radiation varies as a function of time and wavelength, a concept that has been hypothesized for the past two centuries and has recently become a major topic with all the attention paid to global warming. This book reviews the physics of the concept of solar forcing, from its beginnings in the early 1800's and apparent success in the 1870's, to its near demise in the 1950's and recent resurgence. Since its emphasis is on solar variations as a driver for climate change, with only a brief discussion of other mechanisms, the book will be of most interest to students in climate studies.
National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate
Author : National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate Publisher : National Academies Press Page : 70 pages File Size : 55,7 Mb Release : 2012-12-12 Category : Science ISBN : 9780309265645
The Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate by National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate Pdf
On September 8-9, 2011, experts in solar physics, climate models, paleoclimatology, and atmospheric science assembled at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado for a workshop to consider the Sun's variability over time and potential Sun-climate connections. While it does not provide findings, recommendations, or consensus on the current state of the science, The Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate: A Workshop Report briefly introduces the primary topics discussed by presenters at the event. As context for these topics, the summary includes background information on the potential Sun-climate connection, the measurement record from space, and potential perturbations of climate due to long-term solar variability. This workshop report also summarizes some of the science questions explored by the participants as potential future research endeavors.
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Author : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Publisher : Unknown Page : 880 pages File Size : 51,5 Mb Release : 2006 Category : Science ISBN : STANFORD:36105064034411
Questions Surrounding the 'hockey Stick' Temperature Studies by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Pdf
The Maunder Minimum and the Variable Sun-Earth Connection by Willie Wei-Hock Soon,Steven H Yaskell Pdf
This book takes an excursion through solar science, science history, and geoclimate with a husband and wife team who revealed some of our sun's most stubborn secrets. E Walter and Annie S D Maunder's work helped in understanding our sun's chemical, electromagnetic and plasma properties. They knew the sun's sunspot migration patterns and its variable, climate-affecting, inactive and active states in short and long time frames. An inactive solar period starting in the mid-seventeenth century lasted approximately seventy years, one that E Walter Maunder worked hard to make us understand: the Maunder Minimum of c 1620–1720 (which was posthumously named for him). With ongoing concern over global warming, and the continuing failure to identify root causes driving earth's climatic changes, the Maunders' story outlines how our cyclical sun can alter climate. The book goes on to view the sun-earth connection in terms of geomagnetic variation and climatic change; contemporary views on the sun's operating mechanisms are explored, and the effects these have on the earth over long and short time scales are pondered. If not a call to widen earth's climate research to include the sun, this book strives to illustrate how solar causes and effects can influence earth's climate in ways we must understand in order to enhance solar system research and our well-being. Contents:A Sun Most Pure and Most LucidBackground of the Maunder MinimumThe Maunder Minimum: Europe, Asia, North AmericaSurveying the Maunder MinimumMaunder's Early Life and AssociationsThe Family Maunder: the BAA and Astronomy for AllA Particle Theory for the Sun-Earth ConnectionOur Knowledge of the Sun and Its Variability TodaySummary: Cycles of the Sun and Their Tie to EarthThe Maunders and Their Final Storyand other papers Readership: Researchers, scientists, college-level astrophysics students and readers interested in the history of solar science. Keywords:Maunder Minimum;Sun-Earth Connection;Sunspots;Solar Flares;Coronal Mass Ejections;Magnetic Dynamo;Geomagnetic Storms;Little Ice Age;History of Solar and Sun-Earth Connection SciencesReviews:“You have put together an impressive and fascinating collection of historical facts, combining the human condition and the condition of the climate and of the Sun. Your account is unique and valuable … When agriculture is disrupted by cold weather and the landlord still tries to collect the same rent, there is bound to be turmoil.”Eugene N Parker University of Chicago “Although the Maunder Minimum is a very well-known phenomenon in the history of paleoclimate, its explanation is still full of controversies. It is highly important, therefore, that the authors of this book have made a successful effort of collecting and discussing the entire existing factual information on the subject, as well as highlighting the theoretical considerations of the Maunder Minimum. This is an impressive step forward in the analysis of a most important phenomenon in the history of past climates. I find this effort both persuasive and perspective.”Kirill Ya Kondratyev Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences “This is an excellent, well-balanced and informative book on an important phase in the study of sun-climate relations. After a brief introduction on early, most naked eye solar observation, it centers on the period of globally low temperatures, now known as the Maunder minimum. Many unknown historical observational data, from the various continents, are described. The book then describes the Maunder couple and their family, their life history in Victorian England and at the Greenwich Observatory, and their discovery of the Maunder (‘butterfly’) diagram and of the 17th century minimum in the sunspot activity and in related features such as auroras and tree-ring data. Their finding that the sunspot minimum might be related to the globally reduced temperatures may be considered as the early beginning of the study of Sun-Climate relations. The third part of the book is devoted to modern views on the Sun-Earth connection. This part too is written in a critical, informative and balanced way. I find this volume a fine contribution to the study of the Sun-Climate problem.”Cornelis de Jager Distinguished Solar Physicist SRON Laboratory for Space Research, The Netherlands “This book is a wonderful reading which combines intellectual ideas from various branches of modern science, i.e. astronomy, climatology, physics, history of science, biology, etc. The content is very deep and the authors are not afraid to show the soul of scientific methods to the reader. Yet the book avoids complicated mathematical details. The book is interesting for specialists and understandable for general public. One learns from the book about a cataclysm which happened about 350 years ago on the Sun supported and probed by various observational methods including the novel technique of learning about the Sun from other ‘solar stars’. A coherent understanding of the information obtained perhaps requires a century and this story looks more intriguing, rather like many crime stories. The Maunder minimum of solar activity affected various aspects of life on Earth and it is impossible to ignore related experiences by discussing such important topics as global warming, greenhouse effect, sun-climate relation, etc. I believe that everybody who would like to know what modern science offers about these varieties of topics can learn a great deal from the book of W Soon and S Yaskell.”Dmitry Sokoloff Professor of Mathematical Physics Moscow University “This book opens with a Foreword by Eugene N Parker, the world's leading authority on the solar wind and the effects of magnetic fields on the heliosphere … The details of this Sun-Earth connection are still to be discovered, but this book provides the historical evidence that must be taken into account as we improve our understanding of both the Sun and Earth's climate.”Eugene H Avrett Division Director Solar, Stellar, and Planetary Sciences Division, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics “This book is a rich tapestry of scientific information and wide-ranging historical narrative, into which is woven the little-known personal story of Walter Maunder and his mathematician wife Annie. The authors see Maunder as clearly a man ahead of his time and his wife as a collaborator who brought the benefit of university training to an unusual and devoted partnership. They were among the most experienced eclipse observers of their day and were active promoters of amateur astronomy in Britain. They deserve a place in the annals of the Sun.”Mary Bruck Formerly from University of Edinburgh “This is a fascinating and wide-ranging book which deserves to be read by everyone with an interest in the Earth–Sun environment, in global warming and climatic change and in the history of science … it ends with a useful and non-mathematical summary on the modern view of solar magnetic mechanisms, and a short biography of the Maunders.”Journal of the British Astronomical Association “… offer a readable and engaging summary of the history and current status of sunspot understanding, sunspot observation, and linkages between sunspots and changes in Earth's atmosphere.”Choice “Drawing profitably from the latest research, this is a well-rounded, recommended read.”Astronomy Now “The main strength is that this book brings together a vast amount of diverse, but related, material … the authors have provided a very comprehensive and extremely valuable index of sources at the conclusion of the book. The compilation contains citations for many of the original sources, as well as recent reviews. This bibliography provides an excellent point of departure for those readers who, like numerous scientists, savants, and scholars of the last three centuries, have become hooked on deciphering the unfolding clues that underlie the variable Sun-Earth Connection.”Thomas J Bogdan Societal-Environmental Research and Education Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
The Governance of Climate Change by David Held,Angus Fane-Hervey,Marika Theros Pdf
Climate change poses one of the greatest challenges for human society in the twenty-first century, yet there is a major disconnect between our actions to deal with it and the gravity of the threat it implies. In a world where the fate of countries is increasingly intertwined, how should we think about, and accordingly, how should we manage, the types of risk posed by anthropogenic climate change? The problem is multi-faceted, and involves not only technical and policy specific approaches, but also questions of social justice and sustainability. In this volume the editors have assembled a unique range of contributors who together examine the intersection between the science, politics, economics and ethics of climate change. The book includes perspectives from some of the world's foremost commentators in their fields, ranging from leading scientists to political theorists, to high profile policymakers and practitioners. They offer a critical new approach to thinking about climate change, and help express a common desire for a more equitable society and a more sustainable way of life.
This updated and revised new edition of Assessing Climate Change deals with the full gamut of essential questions in relation to global warming and climate change, uniquely providing a balanced and impartial discussion of this controversial subject. It shows that most of what is “known”about the Sun, historical climates and projections for the future lacks foundation and leaves great room for doubt. Assessing Climate Change (3rd Edition) examines the credibility of the global climate models which accuse greenhouse gases of causing the temperature rise of the 20th century, and provides a better understanding of the uncertainties regarding what might lie ahead in the future. Carefully considering the “evidence” brought forward by both alarmists and skeptics, this book: • has been brought completely up to date to end 2013; • examines the measurements of near surface temperatures on Earth and how much we can rely on them; • includes hundreds of graphs showing the data; • compares the current global warming trend with past climate fluctuations; • provides a systematic review of climate change in nearly all of its aspects; • expands the discussion of potential impacts of global warming (from whatever cause); • includes nearly 1000 references specific to the climate literature.
The Discovery of Global Warming by Spencer R. Weart Pdf
In 2001 a panel representing virtually all the world's governments and climate scientists announced that they had reached a consensus: the world was warming at a rate without precedent during at least the last ten millennia, and that warming was caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases from human activity. The consensus itself was at least a century in the making. The story of how scientists reached their conclusion--by way of unexpected twists and turns and in the face of formidable intellectual, financial, and political obstacles--is told for the first time in The Discovery of Global Warming. Spencer R. Weart lucidly explains the emerging science, introduces us to the major players, and shows us how the Earth's irreducibly complicated climate system was mirrored by the global scientific community that studied it. Unlike familiar tales of Science Triumphant, this book portrays scientists working on bits and pieces of a topic so complex that they could never achieve full certainty--yet so important to human survival that provisional answers were essential. Weart unsparingly depicts the conflicts and mistakes, and how they sometimes led to fruitful results. His book reminds us that scientists do not work in isolation, but interact in crucial ways with the political system and with the general public. The book not only reveals the history of global warming, but also analyzes the nature of modern scientific work as it confronts the most difficult questions about the Earth's future. Table of Contents: Preface 1. How Could Climate Change? 2. Discovering a Possibility 3. A Delicate System 4. A Visible Threat 5. Public Warnings 6. The Erratic Beast 7. Breaking into Politics 8. The Discovery Confirmed Reflections Milestones Notes Further Reading Index Reviews of this book: A soberly written synthesis of science and politics. --Gilbert Taylor, Booklist Reviews of this book: Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Spencer R. Weart, director of the Center for the History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics, dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists' views and the public reception their work received. --Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times Book Review Reviews of this book: It took a century for scientists to agree that gases produced by human activity were causing the world to warm up. Now, in an engaging book that reads like a detective story, physicist Weart reports the history of global warming theory, including the internal conflicts plaguing the research community and the role government has had in promoting climate studies. --Publishers Weekly Reviews of this book: It is almost two centuries since the French mathematician Jean Baptiste Fourier discovered that the Earth was far warmer than it had any right to be, given its distance from the Sun...Spencer Weart's book about how Fourier's initially inconsequential discovery finally triggered urgent debate about the future habitability of the Earth is lucid, painstaking and commendably brief, packing everything into 200 pages. --Fred Pearce, The Independent Reviews of this book: [The Discovery of Global Warming] is a well-written, well-researched and well-balanced account of the issues involved...This is not a sermon for the faithful, or verses from Revelation for the evangelicals, but a serious summary for those who like reasoned argument. Read it--and be converted. --John Emsley, Times Literary Supplement Reviews of this book: This is a terrific book...Perhaps the finest compliment I could give this book is to report that I intend to use it instead of my own book...for my climate class. The Discovery of Global Warming is more up-to-date, better balanced historically, beautifully written and, not least important, short and to the point. I think the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] needs to enlist a few good historians like Weart for its next assessment. --Stephen H. Schneider, Nature Reviews of this book: This short, well-written book by a science historian at the American Institute of Physics adds a serious voice to the overheated debate about global warming and would serve as a great starting point for anyone who wants to better understand the issue. --Maureen Christie, American Scientist Reviews of this book: I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Spencer Weart's account provides much valuable and interesting material about how the discipline developed--not just from the perspective of climate science but also within the context of the field's relation to other scientific disciplines, the media, political trends, and even 20th-century history (particularly the Cold War). In addition, Weart has done a valuable service by recording for posterity background information on some of the key discoveries and historical figures who contributed to our present understanding of the global warming problem. --Thomas J. Crowley, Science Reviews of this book: Weart has done us all a service by bringing the discovery of global warming into a short, compendious and persuasive book for a general readership. He is especially strong on the early days and the scientific background. --Crispin Tickell, Times Higher Education Supplement A Capricious Beast Ever since the days when he had trudged around fossil lake basins in Nevada for his doctoral thesis, Wally Broecker had been interested in sudden climate shifts. The reported sudden jumps of CO2 in Greenland ice cores stimulated him to put this interest into conjunction with his oceanographic interests. The result was a surprising and important calculation. The key was what Broecker later described as a "great conveyor belt'"of seawater carrying heat northward. . . . The energy carried to the neighborhood of Iceland was "staggering," Broecker realized, nearly a third as much as the Sun sheds upon the entire North Atlantic. If something were to shut down the conveyor, climate would change across much of the Northern Hemisphere' There was reason to believe a shutdown could happen swiftly. In many regions the consequences for climate would be spectacular. Broecker was foremost in taking this disagreeable news to the public. In 1987 he wrote that we had been treating the greenhouse effect as a 'cocktail hour curiosity,' but now 'we must view it as a threat to human beings and wildlife.' The climate system was a capricious beast, he said, and we were poking it with a sharp stick. I found the book enjoyable, thoughtful, and an excellent introduction to the history of what may be one of the most important subjects of the next one hundred years. --Clark Miller, University of Wisconsin The Discovery of Global Warming raises important scientific issues and topics and includes essential detail. Readers should be able to follow the discussion and emerge at the end with a good understanding of how scientists have developed a consensus on global warming, what it is, and what issues now face human society. --Thomas R. Dunlap, Texas A&M University
Earth's Climate Response to a Changing Sun by Katja Matthes,Thierry Dudok de Wit,Jean Lilensten Pdf
For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the role of the Sun in the Earth's climate system. Recent discoveries, outlined in this book, have gradually unveiled a complex picture, in which our variable Sun affects the climate variability via a number of subtle pathways, the implications of which are only now becoming clear. This handbook provides the scientifically curious, from undergraduate students to policy makers with a complete and accessible panorama of our present understanding of the Sun-climate connection. 61 experts from different communities have contributed to it, which reflects the highly multidisciplinary nature of this topic. The handbook is organised as a mosaic of short chapters, each of which addresses a specific aspect, and can be read independently. The reader will learn about the assumptions, the data, the models, and the unknowns behind each mechanism by which solar variability may impact climate variability. None of these mechanisms can adequately explain global warming observed since the 1950s. However, several of them do impact climate variability, in particular on a regional level. This handbook aims at addressing these issues in a factual way, and thereby challenge the reader to sharpen his/her critical thinking in a debate that is frequently distorted by unfounded claims.
Climate Development and History of the North Atlantic Realm by Gerold Wefer,Wolfgang H. Berger,Karl-Ernst Behre,Eystein Jansen Pdf
The global environment is changing rapidly under the impact of human activities, and an important element of this change is related to global c1imate modification. Can the study of c1imate and history help in devising strategies for coping with this change? What might be the type of information most useful in this context? What are the pitfalls awaiting the unwary? These are the kinds of questions that led us to bring together experts from the natural and social sci ences with a strong interest in history, to promote discussion between workers in different disciplines by focussing on a common topic of great interest to society. The meeting was arranged in the framework of a "Hanse Conference" within the interdisciplinary program of the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, a foundation set up to promote interdisciplinary studies in collaboration between the universities ofBremen and Oldenburg. The aim ofthe Hanse Conferences in general is to provide opportunities for experts from different fields of the sciences and humanities to come together and explore the larger framework oftopics of common interest. What unites the partici pants is their desire to look over the fence to neighboring disciplines. Young colleagues who wish to build an interdisciplinary career are particularly welcome. In the Hanse Conference on Climate and History, we have endeavoured to build bridges between the c1imate sciences and the sociological sciences concemed with environmental impacts on human activities. The geological sciences, we feIt, are especially well suited to the purpose because they al ready comprise historical aspects.
Earth's Climate Response to a Changing Sun by Jean Lilensten,Thierry Dudok De Wit,Katja Matthes Pdf
For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the role of the Sun in the Earth's climate system. Recent discoveries, outlined in this book, have gradually unveiled a complex picture, in which our variable Sun affects the climate variability via a number of subtle pathways, the implications of which are only now becoming clear. This handbook provides the scientifically curious, from undergraduate students to policy makers with a complete and accessible panorama of our present understanding of the Sun-climate connection. 61 experts from different communities have contributed to it, which reflects the highly multidisciplinary nature of this topic. The handbook is organised as a mosaic of short chapters, each of which addresses a specific aspect, and can be read independently. The reader will learn about the assumptions, the data, the models, and the unknowns behind each mechanism by which solar variability may impact climate variability. None of these mechanisms can adequately explain global warming observed since the 1950s. However, several of them do impact climate variability, in particular on a regional level. This handbook aims at addressing these issues in a factual way, and thereby challenge the reader to sharpen his/her critical thinking in a debate that is frequently distorted by unfounded claims.
