Climate
Stop

RESEARCH by ROY
   into Weather and Climate Issues


Navigation

Home

Contact us

What this site is about

There is vast amount of information published about our weather, the climate and many related issues . While studying this great resource I have sometimes found it rewarding to stop, investigate in detail, and even challenge what I see presented. The contents of this site are the outcome of those stops along the way.

My objectives are to:-
  • Progressively share the findings of my own past and on going research.
  • Provide links to substantial sources of reliable and up to date information on the internet about anything related to the climate.

Solar activity and possible influence of planetary tides

August 10th., 2009. - The sun plays a dominant role in the weather and climate, but it is only coincidence that it is the first topic published. It is just happens to have been the last major stop.
In July 2007, NASA published a report by Ching-Cheh Hung examining the apparent connection between alignments of the planets and solar flares. Hung proposed that tidal effects caused by the planets may be a causative factor. This is by no means a new suggestion, but is contrary to prevailing opinion. It was considered on and off by many scientists during most of the twentieth century, but the general view has been that the tidal forces are too low to have any effect on solar activity. However, Hung showed that the timing of the observed eleven year sunspot cycle appears to correlate closely with the cycles of tidal forces caused by the combined effect of the planets Venus, Earth and Jupiter. If the length of time for which the tidal forces act is taken into account, their effect may be much greater than previously thought.

The correlation between the length of the sunspot cycle and the planetary tidal forces appeared interesting, and worth examining more closely. I first did a study that essentially reconstructed a part of the work done by Hung, and clearly confirmed his conclusions. It is written up in: Note on Apparent Relations Between Solar Activity and Solar Tides Caused by the Planets. The original report by Hung which inspired me to do the analysis and write this note may be found here.

I found even stronger evidence for a link between tidal forces and solar activity when I investigated the data in much more detail. This led to a new definition of how the length of the sunspot cycle can be accurately determined without relying on historical observations. It has been written up in: Relations Between Solar Activity  and Solar Tides Caused by the Planets Defined. These appear to be new and significant findings.

I. R. G. Wilson has also investigated the effect on the sun of the tidal forces caused by the alignments of Venus, Earth and Jupiter. He used another variation of the analysis, but his work added still further evidence that those planets are a cause of the timing and level of solar activity. A .pdf copy of his paper: 'Do periodic peaks in the planetary tidal forces acting upon the Sun influence the sunspot cycle?', may be found here.