About That Sun

David Whitehouse, who is an astronomer and a former BBC science correspondent, has an op-ed in the Telegraph today that dismisses a BBC report that dismisses the sun as a potential cause of global warming. It is a good read and starts right out with a severe spanking for the BBC report.

According to the headlines last week, the sun is not to blame for recent global warming: mankind and fossil fuels are. So Al Gore is correct when he said, "the scientific data is in. There is no more debate."

Of that the evangelical BBC had no doubt. There was an air of triumphalism in its coverage of the report by the Royal Society.

It was perhaps a reaction to the BBC Trust's recent criticism of the Corporation's bias when reporting climate change: but sadly, it only proved the point made by the Trust.

The BBC was enthusiastically one-sided, sloppy and confused on its website, using concepts such as the sun's power, output and magnetic field incorrectly and interchangeably, as well as not including any criticism of the research.

But there is a deeper and more worrying issue. Last week's research is a simple piece of science and fundamentally flawed. Nobody looked beyond the hype; if they had, they would have reached a different conclusion.

The report argues that while the sun had a significant effect on climate during most of the 20th century, its influence is currently dwarfed by human effects. It says that all known solar influences since about 1990 are downward and because global temperature has increased since then, the sun is not responsible.

No. The research could prove the contrary. Using the global temperature data endorsed by the Inter-national Panel on Climate Change, one can reach a completely different conclusion.

Recently the United States' National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said that 2006 was statistically indistinguishable from previous years.

Please go over and read the rest, it is worth it. Here's the funny thing, despite the vilification of Whitehouse that is already certainly ramping up from the true believers, he isn't particularly skeptical of anthropogenic global warming - he thinks it is a good working hypothesis. But he is adamant that the sun must not be closed off as a possible cause. He is pretty vehement about the wrongness of closing off scientific inquiry for any reason - especially political reasons.

So look on the BBC and Al Gore with scepticism. A scientist's first allegiance should not be to computer models or political spin but to the data: that shows the science is not settled.

I will point out that the BBC has admitted twice in as many days to having lied outright in its reporting by manipulating video footage. This is not a source that should be accepted at face value on any subject at this point.