Climate change lecture

WE KNOW EARTH’S climate is changing, but who or what is causing it? The sun’s contribution comes up for discussion later this month when a noted UK solar scientist comes to Dublin to deliver a talk.

Solar Variability and Influences on Climateis the title chosen by Prof Mike Lockwood for his talk on September 23rd, during which he will argue that solar output has only a limited impact on warming.

Lockwood, a fellow of the Royal Society, is based in the department of meterorology at the University of Reading and in the space science and technology department in the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

His presentation at the Emmet Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin, takes place on the first day of a specialist two-day international conference, The Transient Universe: from Exoplanets to Hypernovae. The meeting is organised by the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK and the all-Ireland Astronomical Science Group of Ireland.

While the meeting is for working scientists, Lockwood’s Academy Times talk is a free event that should interest the wider public. He will describe some of the latest findings about the sun’s limited contribution to a warming climate. He will discuss what we already know about how the sun’s output varies over time. Some commentators have argued that this is the cause of global warming rather than human activity and the release of carbon dioxide.

There is a huge body of evidence that solar effects are relatively minor on global scales, he will say. Yet there is also emerging evidence that solar output can effect change on a regional basis.

The Academy Times public lecture series is organised jointly by by the Academy and by The Irish Times. The free public lecture is sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland and takes place at 7pm on Thursday September 23rd in the Emmet Theatre in Trinity's Arts Block. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance given the limited space.

Visit the Royal Irish Academy’s website, ria.ie, to book places.