The sun goes through a natural solar cycle approximately every 11 years. The cycle is marked by the increase and decrease of sunspots. The greatest number of sunspots in any given solar cycle is designated as "solar maximum." The lowest number is "solar minimum." Solar Minimum may cause freezing temperatures, earthquakes, and drought.
Sometimes the regular time evolution of solar activity is broken up by periods of greatly depressed activity called grand minima. The last grand minimum was the famous Maunder minimum from 1645–1715. As occurred during the 19th century's so-called Dalton minimum is also considered to be a grand minimum.
According to NASA, the sun is heading toward solar minimum now. Sunspot counts were relatively high in 2014, and now they are sliding toward a low point expected in 2019-2020.
How to separate the influence of natural cycles and anthropogenic factors on our evolving climate or climate change?
Definitely, Sun has a greater roll on climate changes on Earth. However we don't have any control over that. And we believe that what Sun does is for the betterment of the Earth as it is a natural process. We should be careful and control our influences on Climate changes of Earth.
I do not think we can separate natural cycles from human factors. The latter speeds/slows the former. The former also has a similar effect. The sun is a component of climate and therefore is likely to change as climate varies, a phenomenon propagated by human acivities.
Whatever the magnitude of impact by solar min/ max - I think the dimension of human greenhouse gas emissions simply has become a long lasting effect over hundreds of years - which is not easily reverted within decades. Therefore I think it has a more powerful impact in the long term. But also short term I do not think that a sun minimum can really neutralize any climate warming effects, nor can it offset other factors caused, such as loss of variability in precipitation. We will maybe see in a few years...
The 11 year cycle effect is barely visible on the regular increase of the global temperature. Tehrefore, it is clear to me that the effect of greenouse gases overpasses the effect of solar activity udright the past hundred years.
Thanks Claude-Alain Roulet Lorenz Hübner Joan Nyika Md Mahmudul Hasan ... thanks for sharing your valuable insights with us :)
Very valid point! I think both have major and significant effect on earth weather.
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