Editing Cosmic ray (section)

===Postulated role in climate change===
A role for cosmic rays in climate was suggested by [[Edward P. Ney]] in 1959<ref>{{cite journal| title=Cosmic Radiation and the Weather|journal=Nature|date=14 February 1959|first=Edward P.|last=Ney|volume=183|pages=451–452|bibcode=1959Natur.183..451N|doi=10.1038/183451a0|issue=4659|s2cid=4157226}}</ref> and by [[Robert E. Dickinson]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Solar Variability and the Lower Atmosphere|last=Dickinson |first=Robert E.|journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|date=December 1975|volume=56|issue=12|pages=1240–1248|doi=10.1175/1520-0477(1975)056<1240:SVATLA>2.0.CO;2|bibcode=1975BAMS...56.1240D|doi-access=free}}</ref> It has been postulated that cosmic rays may have been responsible for major climatic change and mass extinction in the past. According to Adrian Mellott and Mikhail Medvedev, 62-million-year cycles in biological marine populations correlate with the motion of the Earth relative to the galactic plane and increases in exposure to cosmic rays.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070420-extinctions.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423085401/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070420-extinctions.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 April 2007|title=Ancient Mass Extinctions Caused by Cosmic Radiation, Scientists Say |work=National Geographic |year=2007}}</ref> The researchers suggest that this and gamma ray bombardments deriving from local supernovae could have affected [[cancer]] and [[mutation rate]]s, and might be linked to decisive alterations in the Earth's climate, and to the [[Extinction event|mass extinctions]] of the [[Ordovician]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Melott |first1=A. L.|last2=Thomas |first2=B. C.|year=2009|title=Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage|journal=Paleobiology|volume=35|pages=311–320|doi=10.1666/0094-8373-35.3.311|issue=3|arxiv=0809.0899|bibcode=2009Pbio...35..311M |s2cid=11942132}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.space.com/33379-supernova-explosions-earth-life-mass-extinction.html|title=Did Supernova Explosion Contribute to Earth Mass Extinction?|website=Space.com|date=11 July 2016}}</ref>

Danish physicist [[Henrik Svensmark]] has controversially argued that because [[solar variation]] modulates the cosmic ray flux on Earth, it would consequently affect the rate of cloud formation and hence be an indirect cause of [[global warming]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Long|first=Marion|title=Sun's Shifts May Cause Global Warming|publisher=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]|date=25 June 2007|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/the-discover-interview-henrik-svensmark/|access-date=7 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| first=Henrik |last=Svensmark|title=Influence of Cosmic Rays on Earth's Climate|journal=[[Physical Review Letters]]|year=1998|volume=81|pages=5027–5030|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5027|issue=22|bibcode=1998PhRvL..81.5027S|url=http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/twimberley/EnviroPol/EnviroPhilo/Svensmark.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809142617/http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/twimberley/EnviroPol/EnviroPhilo/Svensmark.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-09 |url-status=live|citeseerx=10.1.1.522.585}}</ref> Svensmark is one of several scientists outspokenly opposed to the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming, leading to concerns that the proposition that cosmic rays are connected to global warming could be ideologically biased rather than scientifically based.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Plait|first1=Phil|title=No, a new study does not show cosmic-rays are connected to global warming|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/08/31/no-a-new-study-does-not-show-cosmic-rays-are-connected-to-global-warming/|access-date=11 January 2018|work=Discover|publisher=Kalmbach|date=31 August 2011|archive-date=12 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112042455/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/08/31/no-a-new-study-does-not-show-cosmic-rays-are-connected-to-global-warming/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other scientists have vigorously criticized Svensmark for sloppy and inconsistent work: one example is adjustment of cloud data that understates error in lower cloud data, but not in high cloud data;<ref>{{Cite web|last=Benestad|first=Rasmus E.|title='Cosmoclimatology' – tired old arguments in new clothes|date=9 March 2007|url=http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/cosmoclimatology-tired-old-arguments-in-new-clothes/|access-date=13 November 2013}}</ref> another example is "incorrect handling of the physical data" resulting in graphs that do not show the correlations they claim to show.<ref>Peter Laut, [http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers/Laut2003.pdf "Solar activity and terrestrial climate: an analysis of some purported correlations"], ''Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics'' 65 (2003) 801–812</ref> Despite Svensmark's assertions, galactic cosmic rays have shown no statistically significant influence on changes in cloud cover,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lockwood|first1=Mike|title=Solar Influence on Global and Regional Climates|journal=Surveys in Geophysics|date=16 May 2012|volume=33|issue=3–4|pages=503–534|doi=10.1007/s10712-012-9181-3|bibcode=2012SGeo...33..503L|doi-access=free}}</ref> and have been demonstrated in studies to have no causal relationship to changes in global temperature.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sloan|first1=T.|last2=Wolfendale|first2=A. W.|author-link2=Arnold Wolfendale|title=Cosmic rays, solar activity and the climate|journal=Environmental Research Letters|date=7 November 2013|volume=8|issue=4|pages=045022|doi=10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045022|bibcode=2013ERL.....8d5022S|doi-access=free}}</ref>