- Flare up … after attending a conference of Chicago’s Heartland Institute, Senator Steve Fielding says it is “plausible” solar flares are linked to climate change.
Photo: AP/NASA
David Karoly, a climate change expert at the University of Melbourne, said Senator Fielding was also wrong to argue that debate about the influence of the sun on recent rises in global temperature had been stifled. Independent teams of scientists had been assessing the evidence for many years, Professor Karoly said. “There has been a rigorous debate.”
The conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions are the main cause of climate change had been accepted by more than 70 of the world’s science academies.
Senator Fielding had been “misinformed by a group of people who probably have a vested interest”, Professor Karoly said. The contribution of the sun “has been addressed over and over again”.
Paul Cally, professor of solar physics at Monash University, said a gradual increase in solar activity during the first half of last century might have contributed up to 30 per cent of global warming.
“But it was totally swamped by man-made effects late in the 20th century,” Professor Cally said. “It is very clear if you look at the data.”
Deborah Smith, Science Editor, smh.com.au/environment
