Why does reduced sun spot activity lead to colder climate on earth?
In: Planetary Science
First, I want to note that although increased energy from the Sun does affect Earth’s climate, it isn’t enough to explain the drastic climate we see today. The consensus is still firmly that it’s caused by emissions from human industry.
Sun spots don’t affect Earth, but they’re a sign of increased activity in the Sun. The Sun is a big ball of plasma that flows in huge convection currents, bringing hot plasma up from around the core while cooling plasma sinks back down.
The Sun goes through cycles of increased and decreased activity. It cools down a little, so there’s less heat and light pressure holding everything up against gravity. That allows the Sun to contract, squeezing in on the core, which increases the rate of fusion. That releases more heat and light, pushing out and making the core less dense. That causes fusion to slow down, so the Sun cools down again… and the cycle repeats.
When the Sun is more active, creating more energy, the powerful, twisting magnetic fields created by the convention currents and swirling plasma become stronger. Those strong magnetic fields end up interrupting the convection currents, so areas form where the cool plasma on the surface don’t get replaced with hot plasma coming from the core. Those cooler spots are sun spots.
So: higher activity in the Sun causes sun spots. That higher activity also creates more heat and light, which means the Earth gets more heat and light, warming us up a little bit more than when the Sun is less active.
The sun is a giant nuclear reactor and sunspots release a lot of energy, which is converted into heat, thus, when less activity, less heat released
Latest Answers