The Traveling System: A Framework for Galactic Forcing of Terrestrial Climate and Biosphere Through Heliospheric Variability
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The dominant framework for climate forcing attributes observed planetary warming primarily to anthropogenic CO₂ and, on geological timescales, to Milankovitch orbital cycles. While both mechanisms are well-evidenced, we propose they are insufficient as complete explanations because they omit a fundamental variable: the solar system is not stationary. Our solar system orbits the galactic center at approximately 828,000 km/h, oscillates above and below the galactic plane on a roughly 30-million-year cycle, and traverses energetically distinct regions of the interstellar medium (ISM) on timescales of thousands to hundreds of millions of years. We term this integrated dynamic The Traveling System. Drawing on published findings in heliospheric astrophysics, cosmic ray climate science, atmospheric electricity, archaeoastronomy, and astrobiology, we argue that variations in the galactic environment of the solar system — specifically ISM density, cosmic ray flux, and interstellar magnetic field structure — modulate the heliosphere, alter galactic cosmic ray (GCR) flux reaching Earth's atmosphere, perturb the global atmospheric electric circuit (GEC) and Schumann resonance state, and thereby drive climate and biosphere forcing at timescales inaccessible to orbital or anthropogenic models alone. Geological evidence confirms that Earth made direct contact with the ISM approximately 2–3 and 6–7 million years ago when the heliosphere collapsed to sub-AU scales during a cold cloud encounter, exposing the planet to radiation orders of magnitude beyond any recorded solar energetic particle event. We present a multi-scale forcing hierarchy, a set of falsifiable predictions, and a research agenda for the integration of heliospheric boundary data with terrestrial climate archives.
Author: Carter, John
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7155509463
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