Articles | Volume 30, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-30-9-2012
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-30-9-2012
04 Jan 2012
 | 04 Jan 2012

Cosmic rays and space weather: effects on global climate change

L. I. Dorman

Abstract. We consider possible effects of cosmic rays and some other space factors on the Earth's climate change. It is well known that the system of internal and external factors formatting the climate is very unstable; decreasing planetary temperature leads to an increase of snow surface, and decrease of the total solar energy input into the system decreases the planetary temperature even more, etc. From this it follows that even energetically small factors may have a big influence on climate change. In our opinion, the most important of these factors are cosmic rays and cosmic dust through their influence on clouds, and thus, on climate.