We all know that global warming is no more a textbook phenomenon. We can actually see the repercussions by the rapidly increasing temperature in the environment and human actions are often blamed for it.
Just when people took cognizance of the rising mercury and the problems associated with it, scientific research claimed that global warming was not a man-made issue but one caused by the Earth moving closer to the Sun.
As reported, Scientific Reports, an online open-access scientific mega journal published the research from academics from Northumbria University, the University of Bradford, the University of Hull as well as Azerbaijan’s Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory.
The authors of the research claim the increase in global temperatures by 1C (33.8F) was due to natural solar cycles as well as the Sun’s movement around the barycentre, the centre of mass in the Solar System.
However, the University of Edinburgh’s Ken Rice was one of a number of physicists to accuse the report of making basic errors: “It’s well known that the Sun moves around the barycentre of the solar system due to the influence of the other solar system bodies, mainly Jupiter.
“This does not mean, as the paper is claiming, that this then leads to changes in the distance between the Sun and the Earth. The claim that we will see warming in the coming centuries because the sun will move closer to the Earth as it moves around the solar system barycentre is very simply wrong.”
Since various authors and experts have opined criticising and supporting the research paper, Scientific Reports have launched an investigation into the study.
The paper also claimed that by the 27th Century, temperatures might increase by 3C (37.4F).
Natural or man-made, the fact remains that there has been a significant rise in the temperatures and we definitely need to look at ways to reverse the damage done.