In 2007, Mike Lockwood said that he had conclusive evidence that man-made CO2 was responsible for global warming.
Sun Not a Global Warming Culprit, Study Says
National Geographic News July 12, 2007
Cyclical changes in the sun’s energy output are not responsible for Earth’s recent global warming, a new study asserts.
Instead the findings put the blame for climate change squarely on human-created carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases—reinforcing the beliefs of most climate scientists. “Up until 1985 you could argue that the sun was [trending] in a direction that could have contributed to Earth’s rising temperatures,” said study author A. Mike Lockwood of the University of Southampton in Britain. Two decades ago, “it did a U-turn. If the sun had been warming the Earth, that should have come to an end, and we should have seen temperatures start to go the other way,” Lockwood said. Yet Earth’s temperatures have continued to climb since that date—making a strong solar role in warming appear unlikely.
“I think it’s quite conclusive,” said Lockwood, who co-authored the report appearing in the current issue of the U.K. journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
Sun Not a Global Warming Culprit, Study Says
Now, he says the exact opposite
Real risk of a Maunder minimum ‘Little Ice Age’ says leading scientist
According to Professor Lockwood the late 20th century was a period when the sun was unusually active and a so called ‘grand maximum’ occurred around 1985.
Since then the sun has been getting quieter. By looking back at certain isotopes in ice cores, he has been able to determine how active the sun has been over thousands of years. Following analysis of the data, Professor Lockwood believes solar activity is now falling more rapidly than at any time in the last 10,000 years. He found 24 different occasions in the last 10,000 years when the sun was in exactly the same state as it is now – and the present decline is faster than any of those 24. Based on his findings he’s raised the risk of a new Maunder minimum from less than 10% just a few years ago to 25-30%. And a repeat of the Dalton solar minimum which occurred in the early 1800s, which also had its fair share of cold winters and poor summers, is, according to him, ‘more likely than not’ to happen.
He believes that we are already beginning to see a change in our climate – witness the colder winters and poor summers of recent years – and that over the next few decades there could be a slide to a new Maunder minimum.
Real-risk-of-a-Maunder-minimum-Little-Ice-Age-says-leading-scientist
Just as scientists are starting to come to their senses, the LA Times bans any letters which don’t emphasize discredited science.
