Solar-Planetary Interactions May Be Major Drivers of Climatic Oscillations on Earth

It has long been known that glacial episodes are controlled by earth's orbital variations, and that the 11- and 22-year sunspot cycles appear to result from the effects of planetary tidal forces on the sun. This study thus seeks to determine whether other solar-planetary interactions might also be capable of influencing earth's climate.

Using the pattern of perturbations of the sun's motion relative to the center of the solar system as a measure of the internal gravitational interactions of the sun-planet system, Scafetta identifies -- via spectral analysis and other means -- a number of clear periodic signals; and a spectral decomposition of Hadley Centre climate data shows similar spectra, with the results of a spectral coherence test of the two histories being highly significant. The spectral pattern of current climate model simulations, on the other hand, does not match the solar and climatic variability patterns; but the output of a model based on the astronomically-forced cycles fits global temperature data well and ocean temperature data even better.

The mechanism behind the newly-discovered suite of relationships appears to be a combination of planetary gravitational effects upon the sun that influence both direct solar irradiance and the sun's magnetic field, plus an interaction of the magnetic fields of the other planets with earth's magnetic field and the solar wind, whereby the solar-terrestrial magnetic field experiences oscillations of several different frequencies that each exert an influence on the intensity of cosmic rays reaching the earth and the subsequent generation of climate-changing clouds. As for the significance of the hypothesized sun-planets-earth-(and moon!) interactions, Scafetta notes that failure to include these natural cyclical components of climate in current state-of-the-art climate models has resulted in at least a 60% over-estimate of the degree of anthropogenic-induced greenhouse warming between 1970 and 2000.