News that there may be a better way to forcast sunspot cycles – periods, believed to be every 11 years, where the sun belches tons of particles into space at high velocities – is causing a stir in the communication industry. This is all well and good, but this research may have a more important impact – helping to settle the extent to which sunspot variation influences climate.
If improved methods of tracking and measuring sunspots are correct, it will be possible to compare sun cycles to Earth’s climate cycles. If both coincide, a major piece to the global warming debate could be accounted for.
