Correlation of global temperature with solar activity

Correlation of global temperature with solar activity

The solar output is very nearly constant, as shown in the plot below. The range of variation is about 0.2%, so reproducible that it is often referred to as the "solar constant".

But there are other aspects of the Sun's activity that are not constant, as indicated by the changing sunspot activity.

An early indication that the Sun's variability in ways other than total output had something to do with climate was the "Maunder Minimum". The researcher Maunder found that during this cold period between 1645-1715 there was very little sunspot activity, and this discovery led to the naming of the phenomenon after him. It suggested that solar activity was coupled to climate and led to tabulations of sunspot number as an indication of solar activity.

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