Some Skeptics have said that the sun has been getting hotter and is responsible for global warming. Actually, the sun cooled off drastically starting in 2002. It bottomed out in 2009 and started going back up to average since 2010. Then in 2015, it cooled once more. In spite of that, global temperatures did not go down. When the temperature charts are compared to the sun’s cycles, the two do not match. This indicates that the sun has no impact on the upward trend of temperatures.

Figure 1: PMOD, A solar luminosity chart. Note the downward trend in recent years.

Figure 2. Remote Sensing System (RSS) temperature chart. Note the upward trend.

Another point is that if increased sunlight were to be responsible for global warming then, all areas of the world would be affected equally. However, global warming is more concentrated in the Arctic regions where sunlight is weaker.

An increase in Carbon Dioxide explains why the Arctic is warming up faster than the rest of the earth during winter. It is during the night that CO2 retains heat. Winters in the Arctic Sea and surrounding areas have very long nights. The longer nights allow for a greater amount of heat to be retained.

This video, by Greenman, gives further details on the sun’s impact on Earth and the misinformation of some Skeptics.