scholarly journals The evidence for and against astronomical impacts on climate change and mass extinctions: a review

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A.L. Bailer-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cosmic Rays ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Cloud Formation ◽  
Causal Connection ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Impact Cratering ◽  
The Past

AbstractNumerous studies over the past 30 years have suggested there is a causal connection between the motion of the Sun through the Galaxy and terrestrial mass extinctions or climate change. Proposed mechanisms include comet impacts (via perturbation of the Oort cloud), cosmic rays and supernovae, the effects of which are modulated by the passage of the Sun through the Galactic midplane or spiral arms. Supposed periodicities in the fossil record, impact cratering dates or climate proxies over the Phanerozoic (past 545 Myr) are frequently cited as evidence in support of these hypotheses. This remains a controversial subject, with many refutations and replies having been published. Here I review both the mechanisms and the evidence for and against the relevance of astronomical phenomena to climate change and evolution. This necessarily includes a critical assessment of time series analysis techniques and hypothesis testing. Some of the studies have suffered from flaws in methodology, in particular drawing incorrect conclusions based on ruling out a null hypothesis. I conclude that there is little evidence for intrinsic periodicities in biodiversity, impact cratering or climate on timescales of tens to hundreds of Myr. Although this does not rule out the mechanisms, the numerous assumptions and uncertainties involved in the interpretation of the geological data and in particular in the astronomical mechanisms suggest that Galactic midplane and spiral arm crossings have little impact on biological or climate variation above background level. Non-periodic impacts and terrestrial mechanisms (volcanism, plate tectonics, sea level changes), possibly occurring simultaneously, remain likely causes of many environmental catastrophes. Internal dynamics of the biosphere may also play a role. In contrast, there is little evidence supporting the idea that cosmic rays have a significant influence on climate through cloud formation. It seems likely that more than one mechanism has contributed to biodiversity variations over the past half Gyr.

Introduction

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna D. Haigh ◽  
Peter Cargill
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Past ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Composition Structure ◽  
Earth’S Climate ◽  
Fundamental Requirement

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Earth's climate system—its composition, structure, and circulation—and some of the ways in which these vary naturally with time. It examines the key features of the structure of the Sun, its magnetic field, atmosphere, and its emission of radiation and particles. A comprehension of how the sun affects the Earth is a fundamental requirement for understanding how climate has varied in the past and how it might change in the future. This is particularly important in the context of determining the cause(s) of climate change and understanding natural factors in order to be able to attribute to human activity any past or potential future influence on a range of timescales.

Recent oppositely directed trends in solar climate forcings and the global mean surface air temperature

2007 ◽  
Vol 463 (2086) ◽  
pp. 2447-2460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Lockwood ◽  
Claus Fröhlich
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Considerable Evidence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Climate Forcings ◽  
Earth’S Climate ◽  
Solar Influence ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Global Mean

Abstract There is considerable evidence for solar influence on the Earth's pre-industrial climate and the Sun may well have been a factor in post-industrial climate change in the first half of the last century. Here we show that over the past 20 years, all the trends in the Sun that could have had an influence on the Earth's climate have been in the opposite direction to that required to explain the observed rise in global mean temperatures.

scholarly journals DEATH IN 2020 AND A COVID-19 GREAT EPIDEMIC: AN ISLAMIC ANALYSIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-141
Author(s):  
Md. Kohinoor Hossain
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Religions ◽  
The World ◽  
Present World ◽  
The Universe ◽  
People Today

Only love to almighty Allah is the greatest love. From ages to ages, Allah has sent his messengers to preach only love to Him. Many destructions, disruptions, and explosions have occurred in this world. This paper tries to explore the causes of the great disasters in the world. The global people when they lead an invalid way, there occurs a terrible crisis. None of the worlds saves it. Only Allah can save global people. Today, the present world is full of share-ism, idolatry-ism, usury-ism, zakat-free-ism, killing-ism, injustice-ism, and inhumanity-ism. They practice about Gods and Goddesses. They believe that the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees, the stone, the angels, the jinn, and other animals can reach Allah. They are the dearest persons who are God, Gods, Goddess, and Goddesses related. Above eleven million people think and say that there is no creator of the universe. It is operating as automated. Marriages and sexism are human to animal. They practice as same-sex, polygamy, polygyny, and polyandry. Most of the global people pray to Materials, Death Guru, God, Gods, Goddess, Goddesses, Peer, Saai, Baba, Abba, Dihi Baba, Langta Baba, Khaja Baba, Joy Guru, Joy Chisty, Joy Baba Hydery, Joy Maa Kali, Maa Durga, Moorshid Kibla, Baba Haque Bhandary, Joy Ganesh Pagla, Joy Deawan Baggi, Joy Chandrapa, Joy Sureshwaree, Fooltali Kebla, Sharshina Kebla, Foorfoora Kebla, Joy Ganapati, Joy Krishnan, Joy Hari, Joy Bhagaban and Mazzarians. The new religions have preached in the world such as Baha’i, Kadyany, Khaljee, Din-E-Elahi, Brahma, and Humanism. The world is full of Shirkism, Moonafikism, Goboatism, Bohtanism, Mooshrikiaism, Oathlessism, and Khianotkariism. In the past, undetermined civilizations have vanished but none can save civilization. This Covid-19 great destruction is human-made. It is from climate change that comes to the global people as a great curse.

scholarly journals Cosmic rays and climate change over the past 1000 million years

New Astronomy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 45-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sloan ◽  
A.W. Wolfendale
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cosmic Rays ◽  
The Past

6. What happened to the Ice Age megafauna?

2019 ◽  
pp. 96-116
Author(s):  
Paul B. Wignall
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

The Ice Age or Pleistocene Period, from 2.6 million to 11,650 years ago, was a time when the climate cycled from glacial to interglacial states every 100,000 years or so, resulting in significant sea-level changes. During the last glacial maximum, numerous large, terrestrial animals disappeared, now termed the Pleistocene megafauna extinction. Its cause has been one of the most highly contested topics in palaeontology in recent years. ‘What happened to the Ice Age megafauna?’ describes how although the losses overall were trivial compared to the scale experienced during the big five mass extinctions, they were highly selective and very similar on all continents. The two main culprits proposed have been climate change and humans.

scholarly journals Do the Available Data Permit Clarifcation of the Possible Dependence of Palaeozoic Brachiopod Generic Diversity Dynamics on Global Sea-Level Changes? A Viewpoint

Geologos ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-221
Author(s):  
Dmitry A. Ruban
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Geologic Time Scale ◽  
Stratigraphic Ranges ◽  
Global Sea Level ◽  
Diversity Dynamics

Abstract At a glance, progress in palaeontology and eustatic reconstructions in the past decade permits to prove or to disprove the possible dependence of Palaeozoic brachiopod generic diversity dynamics on global sea-level changes. However, the available diversity curve is of much lower resolution than the eustatic curve. This problem can be resolved by decreasing the resolution of the latter. The other restriction linked to the chronostratigraphical incompatibility of the available data allows to focus on the Middle Palaeozoic only. A series of mass extinctions and other biotic crises in the Silurian-Devonian does not allow to interpret correctly the results of direct comparison of the brachiopod generic diversity dynamics with global sea-level changes. With the available data, it is only possible to hypothesize that the eustatic control was not playing a major part in diversity dynamics of Middle Palaeozoic brachiopods. The resolution of the stratigraphic ranges of Palaeozoic brachiopods should be increased signifcantly, and these ranges should be plotted against the most up-to-date geologic time scale. Until this task will be achieved, it is impossible to judge about the existence of any dependence (either full or partial) of the Palaeozoic brachiopod diversity dynamics on global sea-level changes.

scholarly journals Evidence for a Solar Companion Star

1985 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 233-243
Author(s):  
Richard A. Muller
Keyword(s):  
Major Axis ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Dwarf Star ◽  
Eccentric Orbit ◽  
Impact Cratering ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
Companion Star ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Near Future

Periodicity seen in both the mass extinctions and large impact cratering on earth can be explained if one postulates that the sun has a companion star, orbiting in a moderately eccentric orbit with a major axis of 2.8 light-years. No other explanations that have been suggested are compatible with known facts of physics and astronomy. If the companion is a red dwarf star, the most common kind in the galaxy, then no previous astronomical observations would have found it. A search for red objects with large parallax is now underway at Berkeley, and has a good chance of identifying the star in the near future.

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