By IANS
London : New research has dealt a blow to those sceptics who claimed climate change was caused by a drop in cosmic rays rather than man-made greenhouse gases.
The belief had gained ground last year with the telecast on Channel 4 of a programme titled ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’.
The programme had argued that a discernible drop in cosmic rays over the past century had resulted in the formation of fewer low clouds – and this, in turn, allowed more heat to warm the earth and caused global warming.
The programme relied on previous research – based on the results of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project – that had suggested a possibility of such a connection.
But evidence from a new study shows no reliable connection between cosmic ray intensity and cloud cover.
A joint team from Lancaster and Durham universities undertook the new study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
The new research shows that change in cloud cover over earth does not correlate to changes in cosmic ray intensity. Neither does it increase or decrease during the sporadic bursts and drops in cosmic ray intensity.
The study has concluded: “no evidence could be found of changes in the low cloud cover from known changes in the cosmic ray ionisation rate”.