Glacial Cycles: A Look at Milankovitch

This topic submitted by Rob Green and Jesse Murphy ( greenerr@muohio.edu ) on 2/11/04 .

Global Climate Change -Western Program-Miami University

Research Question:

As the Milankovitch Cycles continues as a natural phenomenon, what effects will we have on this cycle? What normally takes a millennia to take occur, we have managed to accelerate many of the warming trends into centuries. Will we also accelerate the cool down period in which another ice age may take precedence?

Specific Predictions:

It is our belief that what happens to one will happen to the other. In other words it would seem likely that within the next millennia we will experience a cool down period to either back to normal temperatures or continue to decrease unto another ice age like environment.

Preliminary Research Design:

Since this is a continuing idea among scientist and is yet fully accepted within the general public, it is our intentions that we will find references both for and against this theory. Possibly contact several of the Principle Investigators with the notion of seeing what the current standpoint is with this theory. We will also look at and make graphs dealing with both solar output and the current rise in temperature in order to ascertain whether or not that we concur with our prediction.

Weblinks:

1.) http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/seasons_orbit.html
Gave a detailed description on the seasons relationship to the Milankovitch cycle.

2.) http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa121498.htm

3.)http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Milankovitch/
Biography of Milankovitch and details on his theory of climate change.

4. http://journalofscience.wlu.edu/archive/Spring2000/GlobalWarming.html
This article discusses global warming and climate change as related
to several causes, including the Milankovitch cycle.

5.) http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html#Q1
A large FAQ on climate change and global warming. Discusses the Milakovitch cycle as well as several related topics such as solar
output and sun spots.

6.) http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/solarda3.html
A data base that hold global climate change models related to solar changes and orbital paths.

Journals/books:

Looks at the biological aspects of the effects the Milankovitch Cycles has on our planet.

Discuses how ice core samples aid in determining past changes in climate and further illustrates the concept of the Milankovitch cycle.

4.) Keeling, Charles D., Timothy P. Whorf. Possible Forcing of Global Temperature by the Oceanic Tides, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America © 1997 National Academy of Sciences

Further discuses fluctuation in global temperatures and the trends due to solar output

5.)Mayewski Paul Andrew, Frank White. ÒThe Ice Chronicals: The Quest to understand Global Climate Change. University of New Hampshire. Hanover and London. 2002

The study of glacial changes from ice cores to form a record of past climate changes.

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