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Science 8 April 1994:
Vol. 264. no. 5156, pp. 238 - 239
DOI: 10.1126/science.264.5156.238
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Articles

Stellar Luminosity Variations and Global Warming

Peter Foukal 1

1 Cambridge Research and Instrumentation, Inc., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Recent studies indicate that variation in the sun's luminosity is less than that observed in many other stars of similar magnetic activity. Current findings also indicate that in more active stars, the attenuation by faculae of sunspot luminosity modulation is less effective than in the sun at present. The sun could thus become photometrically more variable (and dimmer) if its magnetic activity exceeded present levels. But the levels of solar activity required for this to occur are not observed in carbon-14 and beryllium-10 records over the past several millennia, which indicates that such an increase in amplitude of surface magnetism-driven variations in solar luminosity is unlikely in the present epoch.

Submitted on December 13, 1993
Accepted on February 15, 1994


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Seasons, Global Temperature, and Precession.
D. J. Thomson (1995)
Science 268, 59-68
   Abstract »    PDF »
Stellar Variability and Global Warming.
R. R. Radick (1994)
Science 266, 1072
   PDF »
Response.
P. Foukal (1994)
Science 266, 1073
   PDF »


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