Summary of #44 - Henrik Svensmark: “It is impossible for me to get funding for doing this kind of work”

00:00:00 - 00:50:00

Physicist Henrik Svensmark discusses his research on the relationship between solar activity, cosmic rays, aerosols, and cloud formation and its impact on Earth's climate. He notes the challenges of obtaining funding for research in this area due to politicization of global warming and its associated CO2 theory. Despite promising findings, including observational correlations with changes in climate over millions of years and experimental evidence of ionization's potential effect, Svensmark has been unable to conduct further investigations due to lack of funding. Nonetheless, he encourages scientists to continue producing honest and good science and welcomes anyone interested in his work to contact him.

• 00:00:00 In this section, Henrik Svensmark, a physicist at the Danish National Space Institute, explains his research on the connection between solar activity and climate, specifically regarding low clouds and cosmic rays. Svensmark's theory proposes that solar activity must somehow affect Earth's cloudiness which could amplify solar activity and affect climate through cloud formation. They discuss the importance of aerosols in cloud formation and how Svensmark and his team were able to test their theory in a large chamber by mimicking the processes in the real atmosphere and producing sulfuric acid in very small concentrations to create the aerosols. He also discusses the challenges of getting funding for this type of research.
• 00:05:00 In this section, physicist Henrik Svensmark discusses his work on the relationship between ionization and cloud formation. While increasing ionization in a chamber did produce more aerosols, which could theoretically lead to more clouds, these aerosols also needed to grow into cloud condensation nuclei. Unfortunately, many of the aerosols got lost before they could grow, and climate models incorporating this theory failed to produce significant results. However, Svensmark's experiments with ionization on the chamber did show that the idea of growth still had potential, and studies of Sun plasma events further suggest that cosmic rays could play a role in cloud formation. Despite these promising findings, Svensmark has been unable to obtain funding for further research.
• 00:10:00 In this section, Dr. Henrik Svensmark discusses his research into the effects of solar activity on the Earth's atmosphere, specifically the relationship between cosmic rays, aerosols, and cloud formation. He notes that there has not been a significant event in almost 15 years, but that in 2012 one of the strongest events passed the Earth without causing any damage. Additionally, he mentions the surprising consistency between variations in the cosmic ray flux and variations in climate seen across all time scales from days to millions of years. Dr. Svensmark's work highlights the importance of understanding the complexities of the Earth's atmosphere and how external factors can affect it.
• 00:15:00 In this section, Henrik Svensmark discusses the correlation between cosmic rays and the Earth's climate over long timescales. Svensmark explains that our solar system moves around the galactic center, and during our travels, we pass in and out of regions with higher or lower levels of star formation. When we pass through areas with higher star formation rates, there are more cosmic rays, which can make Earth colder. Svensmark notes that this is a completely independent way of checking whether the theory is working because it has nothing to do with solar activity. Svensmark argues that there is no good argument against these correlations, and the changes in climate he is talking about vary between cold and warm periods over the last 500 million years, which has a significant impact on the conditions for life on Earth.
• 00:20:00 In this section, Dr. Henrik Svensmark discusses his research on how much organic material has been buried in the sediments throughout Earth's history, indicating the amount of biomass on Earth. He explains that there is a correlation between changes in supernovas and variations in organic material over the last 500 million years, which is likely due to colder climates delivering more nutrients to biological systems. Photosynthesis is related to the production of oxygen, but leaving carbon on the Earth's surface leads to the recombination of CO2 and water, preventing the production of oxygen.
• 00:25:00 In this section, Henrik Svensmark discusses the importance of supernovas and cosmic rays on the evolution of life on earth. He argues that changes in supernovas regulate the amount of oxygen free in the atmosphere, which is essential for complex life. Svensmark also asserts that several people in geology have problems explaining their data with the changes in CO2 on geological time scales and that CO2 cannot change supernovas, creating a causation problem. Svensmark suggests that some changes in CO2 might be from the biosphere, which is changing, and that these changes may be attributed to variations in supernovas.
• 00:30:00 In this section, physicist Henrik Svensmark discusses the possible mechanisms through which cosmic rays can affect Earth's climate. He mentions the low probability of the Earth being affected by radiation directly from the explosion of a very close supernova. However, 2.8 million years ago, a supernova went off relatively close to the Earth, and a large spike in iron-60 found in an ocean core indicates that this supernova affected the Earth. Svensmark notes that this coincided with a large climate change in Africa that had a significant impact on human evolution. Beyond cosmic rays, there are other ideas, such as the total solar irradiance and changes in UV, but these changes are typically too small to affect the climate.
• 00:35:00 In this section, physicist Henrik Svensmark discusses the challenges of getting his ideas accepted in the scientific community due to the politicization of global warming. Svensmark's research focuses on the effect of cosmic rays and solar activity on Earth's climate, which could potentially reduce the climate sensitivity to CO2. However, he faces resistance because his findings challenge the dominant CO2 theory. While the IPCC only considers the small changes in solar irradiance, Svensmark argues that solar activity has a larger effect on clouds and aerosols, which could account for about half of the warming we've experienced over the 20th century. Despite his work gaining more support over time, Svensmark notes that there is now little interest in discussions regarding the topic.
• 00:40:00 In this section, physicist Henrik Svensmark discusses how there's no interest or funding for his work on solar activity and its potential impact on climate science. He notes that it has become a bad career move, and there's a lot of self-censorship within the climate community to avoid controversial statements. Svensmark says that honesty and good science are important, and he encourages skeptics to continue researching and publishing their results to help bring the truth to light.
• 00:45:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the challenges of obtaining funding for research focused on the solar influence on climate. He mentions that while there is interest in the topic, it is difficult to get research funded, and it can result in researchers being marked and facing challenges in obtaining funding for future projects. The speaker also addresses the idea that oil companies fund research in this area and states that he has not received any funding from them. He goes on to describe an experiment he would like to conduct to test his theories and the challenges he faces in obtaining funding for it.
• 00:50:00 In this section, physicist Henrik Svensmark discusses the challenge of getting funding for his research into how cosmic rays affect cloud formation. He explains that current climate models don't incorporate the right physics that would show this mechanism at play in the atmosphere. Svensmark expresses his desire to conduct research on this topic if he could secure funding. He currently has an eight-cubic-meter chamber with all necessary instruments to conduct the experiments, but his funding has dried up in recent years. The interview ends with Svensmark welcoming anyone interested in his research to contact him.