Earth's climate response to a changing Sun

For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the role of the Sun in the
Earth’s climate system. Recent

discoveries, outlined in this book, have gradually unveiled a complex picture,
in which our variable Sun

affects the climate variability via a number of subtle pathways, the
implications of which are only now

becoming clear.

This handbook provides the scientifically curious, from undergraduate students
to policy makers with a complete

and accessible panorama of our present understanding of the Sun-climate
connection. 61 experts from

different communities have contributed to it, which reflects the highly
multidisciplinary nature of this topic.

The handbook is organised as a mosaic of short chapters, each of which
addresses a specific aspect, and

can be read independently. The reader will learn about the assumptions, the
data, the models, and the

unknowns behind each mechanism by which solar variability may impact climate
variability. None of these

mechanisms can adequately explain global warming observed since the 1950s.
However, several of them

do impact climate variability, in particular on a regional level. This
handbook aims at addressing these issues

in a factual way, and thereby challenge the reader to sharpen his/her critical
thinking in a debate that is

frequently distorted by unfounded claims.