Why the sun is not solely responsible for the rapid global warming occurring right now
The sun may be the key to all life on Earth, but it is not the reason global temperatures have been rapidly rising in the last century and a half.
While the heat emanating from the sun can influence Earth's climate, the sun itself is not driving the rising temperatures in recent decades, according to NASA.
It's a common misconception scientists are often debunking, according to ABC News Chief Meteorologist and Chief Climate Correspondent Ginger Zee, as well as other climate scientists who spoke to ABC News.
Zee frequently receives feedback from viewers who are convinced that climate change isn't real or who blame the rising temperatures on the natural variations of the solar cycle, she said.
The sun does have some influence on Earth's temperatures, which varies depending on the shape of Earth's orbit around the sun, its tilt on its axis and the solar cycle, Zee said.
When Earth's orbit around the sun is more circular, temperatures tend to be colder.
The tilt on Earth's axis can also influence temperatures.
In fact, the overall brightness of the sun is actually decreasing, while global temperatures continue to rise, according to data from NASA.
If human influences were not at play, temperatures should actually be cooling, Zee said.
"We know that the Earth should be cooling right now, if only natural factors were in play, things like these orbital changes," Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told ABC News. "But instead, we're seeing the fastest warming that we can detect."
The sun's overall brightness has only contributed about .01 degrees Celsius of global warming since the 1850s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"Overall, the sun has really changed very little, except for these fluctuations every 11 years," Francis said, referring to the solar cycle, in which more sunspots with intense magnetic activity occur during the peak.
The rapid warming began in the 1800s at the start of the Industrial Revolution, when coal, oil and gas began to be used en masse to fuel the rapid international economic growth, according to climate scientists.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the extraction of fossil fuels are the primary cause for global warming, climate scientists say. The removal of the Earth's natural methods to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- such as destroying forests and wetlands that can absorb the emissions -- are heavily contributing as well, Francis said.
The warming is caused by a buildup of heat-trapping gases -- not by the sun getting "hotter," according to NASA.
Greenhouse gases trap the heat that radiates from the sun, Astrid Caldas, a senior climate scientist for community resilience at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News.
"Those greenhouse gasses add to the natural blanket around the Earth," Francis said. "Just like putting a blanket on your bed, the temperature of your bedroom may not be changing at all, but you'll be warmer."
While Earth's climate had natural cooling and warming fluctuations in the last 800,000 years, the warming in recent decades is occurring too fast for it to represent Earth's natural climate shifts, Zee said.
Paleoclimatology -- the study of ice cores and ocean sediment cores -- indicates that the planet is warming 10 times fast than the average warming following an ice age, she added.
"It has never occurred this fast in the history of the Earth," Caldas said.
