Solar energy changes create cold winters in the North

The harsh winter in the United States and Northern Europe can be a result of changes in ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

A new climate simulation study shows that: fluctuations in the light of ultraviolet rays are related to the sun's 11-year operation cycle, which can cause changes in winter weather patterns above. Northern hemisphere. The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience on October 9.

' We hope this opens a new door to improving predictions in a wider range than ' Adam Scaife - co-author of a simulation at Met Office's Hadley Center in Exeter, England.

Scientists have long been paying attention to the connection between the low activity of solar energy and the chill of winter in Europe: a small part of the ice age between 1550 and 1850, occurs At the same time with a record low number of solar black streaks, is one of the measures of solar activity. But to this day, Scaife said, no one could find a physical explanation for the small changes in the top-floor radiation of the earth's atmosphere that could shift to changes in the model. on the surface of the weather.

The answer comes from solar radiation and the Climate Experiment satellite. Between 2004 and 2007, during times of the low end of the solar cycle, satellites measured a surprising reduction in the amount of ultraviolet radiation from the sun, higher than those of the sun. think about 5 times before.

' I think, if this is true, it will be something quite interesting for the climate system, ' Scaife said.

To test what might happen, scientists have placed a massive decline in ultraviolet light into the Met Office climate model - a large computer program that can simulate the ocean and the atmosphere will counteract. respond to those changes. With a small amount of ultraviolet radiation, simulations show that the upper parts of the air are cooled more than normal and allow the wind to blow from the east. This unusualness grows and begins to penetrate through the atmosphere to the height that weather patterns form. Where changes are affected, normal storms will develop, allowing cold weather to form in northern Europe and the United States.

These changes occur only in the winter, and not in every solar cycle, according to the analysis of the models.

But over time, scientists discovered that winter's cold air would be more intense when solar energy was at its maximum.'You will get a significant rate of change ,' says Scaife.

At the same time, weather models in southern Europe and Canada were lighter than normal, essentially losing the cold of Northern Europe and the United States. The new study is therefore unable to say much about whether changes in solar radiation affect global temperatures, Scaife said. Other natural factors also affect the severity of winter, including volcanic eruptions and unusual weather called El Nino .

Kunihiko Kodera, a retired solar climate researcher from Nagoya University in Japan, said the new model captures all stages of the atmosphere, but small details such as warm or slightly cold may make it difficult to predict local weather changes.

If the Met Office computer model can accurately simulate past predictions, researchers hope to start incorporating solar transformations into long-term weather forecasts. Operation of solar energy is currently increasing as expected to reach maximum in 2013.