Abstract
Recently, a hypothesis that the intensity of galactic cosmic rays affects climate through changing the cloud properties has been proposed (Svensmark and Christensen, 1997). The galactic cosmic rays ionize the atmosphere and change the number of cloud condensation nuclei. This may lead to the changes in optical properties and lifetime of clouds. In this study, we conduct a set of numerical simulations using a onedimensional radiative-convective equilibrium model and discuss how much the changes in cloud properties could change the Earth’s climate. According to the results, we conclude that changes of the mode radius of cloud droplets as caused by the 11-year modulation of galactic cosmic rays would not affect the climate very much. Also we argue that a hypothetical change in the low cloud amount from 1980 to 1995 might have affected the changes in surface air temperature.
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