Climate Variations and Solar Activity in the Holocene

Abstract

The causes of climate change on Earth represent one of the main questions in modern science. As is known, solar radiation is one of the main factors that determines the physical characteristics of Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, changes in solar activity cannot but lead to changes in Earth’s climate. It is well known that the Little Ice Age took place on Earth during the Spörer, Maunder, and Dalton deep solar minima. The article analyzes changes in solar activity and Earth’s climate since the beginning of the end of the last global glaciation (approximately 20 000–19 000 years ago). In particular, it is shown that the Mayendorff warming, Dryas coolings, and the Iron Age cooling (in the first millennium BCE) could be associated with changes in solar activity, just like the Little Ice Age.