Influence of Total Solar Irradiance on the Earth’s Climate

Abstract

The results of analysis of variations in the total solar irradiance in the 17–24th solar activity cycles and their relation to the climate global warming are presented. The influence of galactic cosmic rays and volcanic activity on the climate is considered. It is shown that the Earth’s temperature varied in the 17–20th cycles according to the behavior of solar activity without any observed trend: the temperature increased with an increase in solar activity and decreased in solar minima. Global warming began in 1976 in the 21st solar activity cycle. In light of the observed trend, the changes in the Earth’s global temperature in the 21–24th solar activity cycles were related to the cyclical variation of the total solar irradiance in the same way as in the 17–20th cycles. By changing the atmospheric transparency on the background of reductions of the total solar irradiance, galactic cosmic rays also contributed to the increase in the temperature minima. Strong volcanic eruptions were accompanied by 1- to 2-year annual decreases in the temperature, which did not disturb the cyclical process of changes in the Earth’s climate. In the absence of trends in the cosmophysical factors influencing the climate, the process of the gradual increase in the global mean temperature of the Earth in the 21–24th solar activity cycles is explained by the anthropogenic factor.