An Astrometeorological Analysis of Climate Change
Ashutosh Mishra*
Senior Research Fellow, Geography Department, University of Allahabad, India
Submission: April 04, 2018; Published: April 24, 2018
*Corresponding author: Ashutosh Mishra, Senior Research Fellow, Geography Department, University of Allahabad, India Tel: +91-9415866666; Email: ashutoshkmisra@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Ashutosh M. An Astrometeorological Analysis of Climate Change. Int J Environ Sci Nat Res. 2018; 10(2): 555785. DOI: 10.19080/IJESNR.2018.10.555785
Abstract
Climate on Earth is determined by several factors. Among them are- solar activities, Milankovitch oscillation, plate tectonics, volcanism, El Niño-La Niña seesaw etc. Apart from these forces, the geo-magnetic influence of planets and other celestial bodies also may have a significant impact on Earth's climate, as they can alter its atmospheric chemistry and the tectonic movements. Present paper attempts to examine this possibility of extra-terrestrial connections of Earth's climate. For this purpose, the study uses planetary ingress charts to reconstruct the past climate and examines its validity and congruence with commonly accepted timeline of Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Ages. The study uses the ingress of two slow moving planets- Pluto and Saturn in to Aries for the analysis. It was observed that these ingresses are able to interpret the past climatic conditions quite accurately. Even they also present a good explanation of temperature stasis experienced during recent years.
Keywords: Zodiac Signs; Aspect; Extraterrestrial Bodies; Ingress; Geocentric Model, Dwarf Planets; Orb
Introduction
Climate is the average condition of the weather (conditions of the atmosphere at a certain place and time with reference to temperature, pressure, humidity, wind, and other key meteorological elements) over several decades. In a wider sense, it includes not just the mean conditions, but also the associated statistics (frequency, magnitude, persistence, trends, etc.), while climate change refers to "a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer [1]. Climate change is a cyclical process and has occurred throughout earth's history under influence of various terrestrial and extraterrestrial forces. Of course, climate changes naturally, but it is increasingly being thought that human activities are changing this natural variability through making changes in atmospheric chemistry. There are alarmists saying humans have outrun the natural cyclicity, but are also the deniers refuting the change. However, the Aristotelian (sceptical) vies says that a thought should be entertained without accepting it. There is no doubt that climate is changing. But it has changed in the past as well. And we have no sound knowledge of the past.
Since modern records of climate only began in the 1880s, we depend on proxies to determine climatic patterns before record-keeping began. However, these proxy-based palaeo climatic reconstructions are spatially incomplete and contain large uncertainties caused by non climatic noise, reconstruction methods, measurement errors and inadequate understanding of the proxy response to environmental variations. Moreover, the available instrumental records of present day climate are also debatable. These data are derived largely from land-based measuring stations, when two-thirds of the planet is covered by water. These measurements often inherit the seasoning effect of near built-up areas, and this is why the satellite records show a much lower rate of temperature rise than ground- based surface stations do. Apart from these measurement uncertainties, models simulations of future climate scenario are also contentious. These models often simulate accurate trends for the current climatic conditions but they fail to match the observational records when hind casted.
It is important to note that the global warming after 1950 is not uniform over the Earth. Although a single number, namely +0.6 °C/100 years, or +0.3 °C/50 years, is used in discussing global warming, the geographic distribution of warming is quite complex. A warming pattern was recorded during the last half of the last century, from about 1950 to about 2000 [2]. During this period, the most prominent warming occurred in the continental Arctic, on the other hand, contrary to the general warming trend, a cooling was in progress in Greenland over the same time period. It is interesting to note that GCMs fail to reproduce this geographic distribution of the observed changes while the IPCC claim to be able to reproduce the 0.6 °C/100 years rise caused by the greenhouse effect of CO2. (Figure 1) compares the Observed Distribution of Temperature Changes and the Simulation (Hind casting) By the IPCC Arctic Group [3]. Surprisingly the model result is far from reality. It is noticeable that if the human- enhanced greenhouse effect caused the warming, the observed pattern should be reproducible at least qualitatively by these models, even if the reproduction is not perfect. It is important to note that even if models today have become very important tool in climate prediction, a perfect climate model is yet a distant dream.
The earth's climate stems from a multi-component, driven, noisy, non-linear system that shows temporal variability from minutes to millennia. Instrumental observations of key physical climate variables have sufficient coverage and precision only over the past 150 years at best (and usually much less than that). Many different processes and phenomena will be relevant and each needs to be accurately parameterized to predict the climatic scenario more accurately. Prima facia climate is the result of sun-earth interaction, however, other extra-terrestrial bodies like planets, comets, asteroids etc. may also have some significant impact on Earth's climate. These extra-terrestrial bodies also have their magnetosphere like Earth and Sun, and thus, can affect isolation as well as atmospheric phenomena. Present paper attempts to examine this hypothesis of climate change. It is worth mentioning here the work of Henrik Svensmark who discovered a startling connection between the cosmic ray flux from space and cloud cover. Svens mark found that when the sun is more active- more sunspots, a stronger magnetic field, larger auroras, stronger solar winds, etc. fewer cosmic rays strike the earth and cloud cover is reduced, resulting in warmer temperatures. Svensmark's study, thus, highlighted that Sun, Moon, planets and other celestial bodies exercise their geomagnetic influences on the Earth, and the Earth to them- as part of a cosmic whole.
Planets, Zodiac Signs, their Aspect and the Earth`s Climate
Present paper aims at analyzing the climatic phenomena by the astrometeorolical approach. The study is based on the common Astrometeorological belief that every motion on the Earth is somewhere linked with movements of planets and other extraterrestrial bodies, and the geomagnetic properties of these celestial bodies affect the entropy as well as chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere [4]. It is, thus, possible to estimate the climatic variability and fluctuations by analyzing planetary ingress charts. As the small and seasonal weather patterns can be easily traced by analyzing ingress of Sun into various zodiac signs, the slower moving planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto can give clues about fluctuations and long-term changes in the climate (Table 1) presents a brief description about the planets of our solar system. Every planet of the solar system is considered to have some specific influence on Earth's climate as Sun and Mars governs heat, Saturn gives the cold and the Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Moon lies in the middle. Uranus produces a cooling effect, Neptune is almost temperature neutral and the Pluto is known for warming (Table 2).
Likewise, the twelve zodiac signs also play a significant role in determining the climatic conditions on Earth. Fire signs- Aries, Leo, Scorpio and Sagittarius, produce a warming influence while Gemini, Virgo, Capricorn and Aquarius are known for the cooling. Taurus, Cancer, Libra and Pisces are almost temperature neutral signs (Table 3). Planets and also the zodiac signs interact with each other through aspects. In the geocentric model of the planetary system, the entire planets orbit around the Earth, and the interconnection between planets or angle of separation between them with respect to Earth, is known as Aspect. Major planetary aspects are 0° (conjunction), 60° (sextile), 90° (square), 120° (trine), and 180° (opposition). These aspects are also given some margin of influence that is known as 'orb.'This amount of orb varies for different aspects, for example, the maximum orb that is allowable for aspect of opposition is 8° and if two planets are 175° apart then they still can be considered in opposite aspect with a 5° orb, however, the sharpness or the influence of the opposition will be weakened. This simply means that smaller the orb, more significant aspect influence will be. Aspect may be easy (conjunction, sextile, trine, quintile etc.) or hard (opposition, square, in conjunct, semi-sextile, square, quincunx etc.) (Table 4) describe the characteristics and influence of different aspects. The planets, zodiac signs and their aspects, thus, influence climatic phenomena on the Earth through altering atmospheric order and its energies.
Means and Methods
We know that the Earth has undergone numerous cycles of warm and cold periods in its 4.6 billion years long history, however, it is not possible to examine here all the past climatic fluctuations due to small orbital periods of the planets. Undoubtedly, every planetary ingress tells something about climate change, but, the study has focused on analyzing the ingress of Pluto and Saturn only for efficacy and brevity. The other reason to restrict the analysis to these two planets only is the classical definition of climate given by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that defines climate as the averaged weather of 30 years. Notable the orbital period of Pluto and Saturn is about 248 and 30 years respectively, while it is less than 30 years in case of all other planets. One thing also needs to be clarified here that while the Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), it is recognized here as a planet to maintain symmetry with astrological texts. Same is the case with Moon which is a natural satellite of the planet Earth, but has been recognized here as a planet. The study considers a period of past 1000 years for the analysis and starts from the point when Pluto ingresses into Aries in 844 AD. This time falls very close to 900 AD which has been assumed as the beginning of the Medieval Warm Period that lasted till 1300 AD [5-9]. It is anticipated that the ingress of Pluto into Aries during this period should show a warming trend. However, it is noteworthy that while this period was warmer than present, not every part of the world experienced the same warming as North Atlantic countries and the Asian countries like China, Japan and India recorded only a mild warming during this period [10-14].
The next period of significant climatic fluctuation is the Little Ice age which lasted roughly from 1500 to 1850. It is documented that the global temperature during this period was 1 °C cooler than present [15-19]. And therefore, the ingress of Pluto for this time should show a cooling effect. At the end of this Ice Age, the global temperature started rising, but, this rise was not even, as we can notice several fluctuations in temperature record of past century (Figure 2). However, a cycle of nearly 30 years period in temperature pattern can easily be identified. It is noteworthy here that the orbital period of Saturn is 29.5 years, and this corresponds well with global temperature fluctuations. The study has used ingresses of Pluto and Saturn into Aries- the first astrological sign in the zodiac, for the analysis. The ancient Indian city of Prayag/Allahabad has been used as the case, and the tropical zodiac system has been used to cast ingress charts. While, the study is focused on examining the climate trend only, it uses basic planetary aspects and sign placements rather angles or planetary house positions.
Discussion
The first ingress of Pluto into Aries, discussed here, occurred on 22 April, 844 A.D. at 5:09:39 am at Allahabad, India. As the (Figure 3) shows, the Pluto is in sextile aspect with Mercury with 3°16' orb. The Sun is in Taurus and is in opposite aspect with Jupiter (with a very wide 7°1' orb) in Scorpio, and, thus, giving a warming effect. Moon also in is Taurus, and in opposite aspect with Jupiter with a little orb of 1°23'. These planetary combinations hint for the start of a warming climate cycle. The second ingress of Pluto into Aries took place on 4 May, 1088 at 08:02:42 am (Figure 4). At this time, Pluto is in opposite aspect with the Libran Moon (with a 1°4' orb). This combination is moderating the warming temper of Pluto up to some extent. However, the trine aspect of Pluto with Can cerian North Node (with 2°43' orb) here is supporting its energy positively. Pluto is also in Sextile aspect with Mercury (with 2°26' orb) and with Venus (with 3°34' orb). These both the planets have a cooling influence and as they are placed in Taurus, a neutral sign, they act as moderators here. Pluto is also in conjunct aspect with Uranus (with a 4°19' orb) which is a cooling planet and has also gained some more cooling influence by being placed Pisces sign. The Sun is also situated in Taurus, and, thus, is almost in the state of a stable energy. The resultant influence of these planetary associations on Earth's climate is, thus, cooling, and it states that the mild warming trend started at the time of last ingress of Pluto was moderated during this cycle. The next ingress of Pluto happened on 3 June, 1332 at 08:56 pm (Figure 5). Like previous chart, here again the Pluto is in opposite aspect with the Libran Moon (with a 3°42’ orb). However, it is in very close sextile aspect (with a negligible orb of 0°12’) with Mercury in Gemini. The Moon is in square with Neptune (with a 3°04’ orb) and is in Sesquiquadrate with Mars (with 0°54’ orb). These combinations of planetary influences are stabilizing the climate with some fluctuations. The placement of Sun in Gemini also endorses climatic stability. The next Pluto ingress occurred on 25 April, 1577 at 2:54:18pm (Figure 6). At this time Pluto is in hard square aspect with Venus (with 0°46’ orb) and in a moderate square aspect with Neptune (with 4°53’ orb). Venus exerts a cooling effect which has become more powerful in Gemini. Neptune is a neutral planet and its position in Cancer stabilizing the climate. Pluto here has also a sextile aspect with Uranus (with an orb of 2°58’) which has a cooling effect, and the position of Uranus in the cooling sign of Aquarius has enhanced its cooling potential. The Semi-Square aspect between Sun and Pluto (with very little orb of 0°28’) has further reduced the easiness. While both the planets have a warming influence, their energy conflicts have wasted it by accelerating the atmospheric circulation. If we consider the placement of Moon in the chart, it is in Sesquiquadrate aspect with Pluto but with a very wide orb value of 2°03'. Yet poor, but this is another conflicting aspect, which is nullifying the total warming influence. Evidently, all these planetary combinations are indicating towards the beginning of a cold phase of the climate cycle [15-19].
Pluto entered into Aries again on 16 Apr, 1822 at 8:36:40 pm (Figure 7). At that time, it was in conjunct aspect with Mercury (with an orb of 1°13'). Mercury keeps a cooling effect but with Aries it generates dryness. Pluto is also in square aspect with Neptune (with 5°14' orb) and Uranus (with 7°22' wide orb). These both the planets generate a cooling effect however, being placed in Capricorn their energies have become more violent and gone used in reordering of the climate system. In this chart Sun is in conjunction with Saturn (with 3°15' orb). This combination is likely to generate a hot, humid and violent climate. Moon here is in opposition with Mars of Leo (with an orb of 2°43'), and in conjunction with north node (with 3°19' orb). This conflict of warm and cold energies is climate modifying. Thus, the interplay of planets in this chart show a recovery phase from past cold climate cycle.
The next chart shows the Ingress of Saturn in to Aries on 3 Apr, 1849 at 8:44:53 pm (Figure 8). In this chart Sun is in Sesquiquadrate aspect with Moon (with 2°38’orb). Sun is in Aries and Moon is in Leo sign. Sun is also in trine aspect with Jupiter (with 1°13' orb). Moon is in opposite aspect with Neptune (with an orb of 7°38') and with Mars (with an orb of only 0°06'). Neptune has a cooling influence and it is in the watery Pisces sign while Mars is in Aquarius that gives dry and cool climate. This hard-opposite aspect of these two planets of contrary nature with Moon, and the other combinations show that the next 30 years climate cycle will be highly fluctuating and will see several warm and turbulent spells.
The next ingress of Saturn in to Aries took place on 15 May, 1878 at 1:41:57am (Figure 9). In this chart Saturn is in difficult in conjunct aspect with Moon (with 0°08’ orb). Here the Moon in Libra is to produce a cooling effect, and with hard inspecting of Saturn, temperature will go down further. However, Sun is in hard square aspect with Uranus of Leo (with 1°32’orb). And Sun and Leo here with Uranus are producing a dry climatic condition. Thus, this period of climate cycle wil1 notice a decline in temperature with a few warming spells. (Figure 10) shows the ingress of Saturn in to Aries on 19 Mar, 1908 at 7:51:39 pm. In this chart Saturn is in conjunction with Sun (with 1°25'orb) and in trine with Jupiter (with 5°10'orb). These both the aspects are creating energy conflict. Sun is also in trine aspect with Jupiter (with 3°45'orb) which is enhancing the it's warming potential. Moon is in square aspect with Neptune (with 3°48'orb), and with North Node (with 5°34'orb). These two are placed in Cancer sign which is known for bringing rain. Moon is also in trine with Pluto in Gemini (with 6°55'orb), and is in conjunction with Mars in Taurus (with 1°35'orb). The Uranus of Capricorn is also establishing a difficult square aspect with moon (with 0°35'orb). Moon is also in Sesquiquadrate aspect with Mercury in Pisces (with 1°31'orb). Thus, the aspect of Moon with different planets is giving a mixed result. Hence, it is estimated that the climate of this period will witness a mild warming trend.
The next ingress of Saturn into Aries occurred on 25 Apr, 1937 at 11:58:28 am (Figure 11). At this point of time, the Saturn is in difficult in conjunct aspect with Moon of Scorpio (with 0°33’orb), which is moderating its cooling potential. Saturn is also in trine with Mars of Sagittarius (with 4°49'orb), and with Pluto of Cancer (with 3°28’orb). In this chart Sun is in Opposition with Moon of Scorpio (with a 5°11’orb). Moon is in square aspect with Pluto (with 2°05’orb) and with Jupiter (with 2°47’ orb). In this chart, all the cooling influences are moderately being nullified, and hence, this period must witness a stable temperature trend. Saturn reentered in to Aries on 4 Mar, 1967 at 3:01:13 am (Figure 12). At that time, Saturn was in trine with Jupiter (with 5°05’orb) and with Neptune (with 5°40’ orb), and is in quincunx with Mars (with 3°03’orb). Sun has an opposite aspect with Pluto (with 6°54’orb), a square aspect with Moon (with 6°23’orb). Moon is in a square aspect with Uranus (with 3°49’orb) and with Pluto (with 0°31’orb). Saturn's hard aspect with Mars and that of Sun with Pluto is generating a notable warming influence here, and a significant warming trend should be noticed during this 30 years Saturn's cycle.
The next ingress of Saturn into Aries occurred on 7 Apr, 1996 at 2:18:53 pm (Figure 13). At this time Saturn was in sextile with Neptune (with 2°23’ orb). It was also in trine with Pluto (with 2°49’ orb) and with Moon (with only 0°15’orb). The Sun is in opposition with North Node (with 5°05' orb), in hard Sesquiquadrate with Pluto (with 0°orb) and with Moon (with 2°34’ orb), in square aspect with Jupiter (with 1°19’ orb) and in semi-square with Venus (with 0°42’ orb). The moon is in opposite aspect with Venus (with 3°16’ orb), and is in semi-square with North Node (with 2°1’ orb) and Jupiter (with 1°15’ orb). The Sun-Pluto connection here is generating heat but combining all the planetary influences, it indicates for a warming trend in early phase and then a temperature stasis for rest of this Saturn ingress cycle.
Conclusion
The analysis reveals that the movements of planets exert a determining influence on the climatic conditions on Earth, and play a critical role in triggering the climate change cycles. Although the study was confined to analyze the ingress of slower moving planets- Pluto and Saturn into Aries, the ingress chart of other fast-moving planets can present a good explanation of short-scale climatic fluctuations and weather events. The analysis shows that the climatic conditions (of India and more specifically of the Allahabad city) tended towards a warming cycle with ingress of Pluto in Aries in 844 AD. The warming continued during Pluto's next cycle of 248 years, however, it was moderated. The climatic condition remained stabilized during Pluto's next cycle however, it started declining at next Pluto's ingress in Aries in 1577. This was a cold phase of climatic cycle and it lasted only when Pluto reentered into Aries in 1822, and the climate started recovering from cold phase. For next period of analysis, the study has concentrated on the movement of Saturn which entered into Aries on 3 April, 1849.
The climate of next 30 years duration was highly variable as it was recovering from the last cold phase. However, during next ingress cycle of Saturn, the temperature was almost declining with few warm spells. The next 30 period was a little warmer. The climate got moderated during Saturn's next cycle but started warming again once the cycle completed. This warming is turning towards a stasis during the next cycle of Saturn's ingress which started on 7 April, 1996. In near future Saturn will enter in Aries on 25 May, 2025 at 9:05:31 am (Figure 14). At that time, it will be in sextile with Sun (with a 4°11’ orb), with Mercury (with 1°55’ orb) with Uranus (with 2°18’ orb), and with Pluto (with 3°43’ orb). Pluto will be in trine with Sun (with only a 0°28’orb) and in square aspect with Moon (with 2°30’orb). These combinations are producing a mitigating influence, and hence, the coming Saturn cycle is not going to be very warmer. Let us have a look on planetary positions at the time of next ingress of Pluto in to Aries that will occur on Apr 9, 2067 at 2:59:33 am (Figure 15).
In this chart Pluto is in square aspect with Neptune of Cancer (with 1°41’ orb) and is in semi-square aspect with Moon (with 0°37’ orb). The Sun is in Sesquiquadrate with Saturn (with only a 0°32'orb). The Moon is in Sesquiquadrate with Neptune of Cancer (with a minor 0°37'orb). These combinations are producing a conflict between warm and cold energies, and it is being deduced here that during next 250 years, the temperature will not record any significant rise and will remain almost in a stasis, however due to planetary conflicts; the climate patterns will be highly irregular and fluctuating.
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