Joanna Haigh

Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Joanna Haigh, Professor Emerita of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London and Co-Director of the Grantham Institute until her retirement in 2019. After inspiring details about how she got into her field of study and how we can encourage more girls to get more interested in science, the conversation examines her research of the influence of the sun and solar variability on our climate, how energy emitted by the sun in the form of heat, light and ultraviolet radiation warms the earth and drives our climate, how data from satellites and modelling the processes helps us distinguish the warming effects of greenhouse gases from those of natural variations in solar energy, and more.

This carefully-edited book includes an introduction, Confronting Complexity, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:

  1. Meteorological Beginnings – Joanna finds her niche
  2. Science and Gender – Different disciplines, different stories
  3. A Curious Correspondence – Examining the link between temperature and solar variation
  4. Considering the Earth – A changing orbit and changing tilt
  5. Considering the Sun – Looking at the solar cycle
  6. The Big Picture – More than just the sun
  7. Examining the Details – Recreating the weather, more or less
  8. Getting The Word Out – Increasing public awareness
  9. Public Policy – From words to acts
  10. Final Thoughts – Towards a better future


Available in electronic format on all major booksellers, including:

–> Also available via your library through JSTOR, ProQuest Ebook Central, and EBSCO’s GOBI.


Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun is also part of the five-part Ideas Roadshow CollectionConversations About The Environment, which is available in hardcover, paperback and electronic format.

–> Also available via your library through JSTOR, ProQuest Ebook Central, and EBSCO’s GOBI.