New paper suggests greenhouse gases not primary cause of global warming

India has once again challenged the UN's climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with a new scientific paper that suggests human-induced global warming is much less than what the R K Pachauri-led IPCC claims.

The paper identifies the reduced impact of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) on the formation of low clouds over earth in the last 150 years as the main cause for global warming. The paper is authored by U R Rao, former chairman of  Indian Space Research Organisation, and was released by environment minister Jairam Ramesh.

GCRs that mostly originate from exploding stars enter the solar system from outside and help in the formation of low-level clouds over the earth. According to the theory the magnetic field of the sun deflects GCRs, thereby impacting low-level cloud formation.

On an analysis of the data between 1960 and 2005, Rao found that lesser GCRs were reaching the earth due to increase in solar magnetic field which is increasing global warming.

In a similar scientific paper, he released in 2009, Ramesh had pointed out that the IPCC's claim that most Himalayn glaciers would melt by 2035 was wrong. The IPCC, a few months later regretted the error. If Ramesh's latest bid proves correct it can alter the rules of UN run climate negotiations of 200 nations.

The impact of GCRs on global warming, has been a subject of controversy since 1998, when Henrik Svensmark of Danish National Space Center said it was causing global warming. A joint European study, a decade later,  refuted the claim saying there was no coorelation.