Chinese Journal of Nature ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 408-419.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.06.003

• Invited Special Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Impact of solar activity on Earth’s climate 

XIAO Ziniu    

  1. State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100029, China 
  • Received:2021-10-08 Online:2021-10-25 Published:2021-12-21

Abstract: Solar radiation is the energy source of the Earth system and the fundamental driving force of climate formation and evolution. The variation of solar radiation reaching the Earth is closely related to the Earth’s climate on a long time scale, such as thousands years. But on time scales of hundreds years and less, it is not clear whether solar activity has a significant impact on climate. Solar activity can affect the Earth’s climate in many ways, and the process is extremely complex. The response of climate system to solar forcing is nonlinear, which results in great uncertainty of the influence of solar activity on climate. In this paper, we summarize the recent studies on the effects of solar activity on the Earth’s climate, and discuss the key factors and possible pathways of the effects of solar activity on the Earth’s climate on the interannual and decadal scales, as well as the sensitive areas and key linkages of the climate system in response to solar activity changes.