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Solar variability and climatic change during the current millennium

Nature volume 286, pages 868–871 (1980)Cite this article

Abstract

Claims of a Sun–weather relationship1 can only be evaluated properly when the history of solar change is known in detail. The most obvious feature of solar variability is the change over time in the number of sunspots on the visible half of the Sun. A less visible indicator of solar change is the 14C content of tree rings. The atmospheric 14C levels derived from tree ring measurements can be tied to the Sun's modulation of the cosmic ray flux in the vicinity of the Earth, and thus provide a history of solar change2. We report here a comparison of climate records with the record of solar change obtained from atmospheric 14C variations. This yielded ‘negative’ results, that is, a relationship between the climatic time series and the 14C derived record of solar change could not be confirmed.

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  1. Departments of Geological Sciences and Zoology, Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195

    Minze Stuiver

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  1. Minze Stuiver
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Stuiver, M. Solar variability and climatic change during the current millennium. Nature 286, 868–871 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/286868a0

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