Long‐term solar activity: a glimpse at its pre‐telescopic history

Aims at the structuring of an analytical tool that traces the time course of geophysical phenomena, regional or global, and compares it to that of long‐term solar conditions – long term meaning decades or centuries. The model is based on the postulate that since in a previous analysis the preponderance of atmospheric, hydrospheric, and some aspects of geospheric phenomena are powered by energy from the sun, now or in the past, the long‐term behaviour of such phenomena is ultimately “connected” to long‐term changes occurring in the sun itself. Proposes and models a stable surrogate pattern for the long‐term solar activity; introduces a transfer‐function for modelling the connection between the surrogate and terrestrial phenomena viewed as partners in the connection; and probes the connection outcome for episodic or unanticipated effects that may arise due to the fact that in the present context, the connection, should it exist, is very likely non‐linear. Presents the theory of the concept, and demonstrates its pertinence to terrestrial phenomena.