Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

In order to quantify the role that the Sun has played in recent climate change, we need to know how the Sun changes over time. The only way to do that is to observe the Sun using satellites. But, the instruments on board do not last long enough to tell us how the Sun really varies on the multi-decadal time scales important for climate change. And, no two instruments tell quite the same story. We need to know that the observations are right before we link them to longer datasets and estimate how the Sun has varied in the past. Deciding how to put those instrument stories together can ultimately lead us to attributing a greater or lesser role in climate change to the Sun.

The first hard frost of fall has come. I think it happened here on October 24. I can’t say for sure because I was in Ohio visiting family. I knew the seasons would be changing in the eight days I would be gone. In preparation for leaving I was busy cleaning up the garden, which goes hand in hand with building compost piles, and planting cover crops. When I returned on October 30 the leaves on the trees had changed colors and the newly planted cover crop seeds had sprouted.

When the first hard frost comes in the fall, everything changes in the garden. The pepper plants that were so lush the day before are now wilted, along with so many other warm weather crops. That doesn’t mean your garden is finished for the season, however. This is the time for the cold weather crops to take center stage. I…