Module 7.1.

Natural Processes of
Variations in Climate
Inquiry question: How long does it take for the climate to
change naturally and what causes these changes?
Natural Causes of Climate
Change
There have been several factors that have been
attributed the Earth’s changing climate in geological
time.
Causes such as the plate tectonic supercycle, massive
volcanic eruptions such as in the Deccan and Siberian
Traps, bolide impacts such as at the end-Cretaceous,
and changes in ocean currents and ocean circulation
have already been explored in Module 5 - Earth’s
Processes presentations.
However, solar activity and Earth’s orbital cycles are
also attributed to climate change in geologic history.
◈ Solar Activity
Solar activity is primarily linked
to the number of sunspots.
Sunspots are colder regions of the
Sun’s surface and they seem to
fluctuate in 11 year cycles. This
data has been collected since the
17th century when pioneering
astronomers began to keep records.
Some variations in the Earth’s climate
correlate with prolonged drops in sunspot
numbers, such as the “little ice age” (15th –
19th centuries) which correlates to the
Maunder minimum of sunspots of the period.
However, the true cause of this drop in
average global temperature is not fully
known.
It is important to note that the
role of solar activity in the
recent climate change events has
been found to be insignificant.
This suggests that atmospheric
composition and the greenhouse
effect contribute greater to
climate change than solar
activity.
◈ Milankovitch Cycles
A Milankovitch cycle is a cyclical movement related to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. There are
three factors: eccentricity, axial tilt (obliquity), and precession.
According to the Milankovitch
Theory, these three cycles
combine to affect the amount of
solar heat that’s incident on the
Earth’s surface and subsequently
influence climatic patterns and
contribute to changes in climate
over long periods of time.
They initiate the beginning of ice
ages and natural periods of
global warming.
Eccentricity
The path of the Earth’s orbit
around the sun is not a perfect
circle, but an ellipse.
This elliptical shape changes
from less elliptical (nearly a
perfect circle) to more elliptical
and back, and is due to the
gravitational fields of
neighbouring planets
(particularly the large ones –
Jupiter and Saturn).
The measure of the shape’s
deviation from being a circle is
called its eccentricity.
That is, the larger the GIF
eccentricity, the greater is its
deviation from a circle.
Thus, in terms of
eccentricity, the Earth’s
orbit undergoes a cyclical
change from less eccentric
to more eccentric and back.
One complete cycle for this
kind of variation lasts for
about 100,000 years.
 GIF

Axial Tilt (Obliquity)

We know the earth is spinning around its own
axis, which is the reason why we have night
and day. However, this axis is not upright.
Rather, it tilts at angles between 22.1o –24.5o
and back. These angles are measured between
the angle of the axis to an imaginary line
normal (perpendicular) to the Earth’s plane of
orbit.
A complete cycle for the axial tilt lasts for
about 41,000 years.
Greater tilts mean that the hemispheres
closer to the Sun, i.e., during summer, will
experience a larger amount of heat than
when the tilt is less.
In other words, regions in the extreme
upper and lower hemispheres will
experience the hottest summers and the
coldest winters during a maximum tilt.
 GIF
Precession
Aside from the tilt, the axis also wobbles like a
top. The direction of the Earth's axis of rotation
relative to the fixed stars cycles approximately
every 26,000 years. This motion is caused by
tidal forces from the Sun and Moon. This is axial
precession.
Axial precession as well as tilting are the reasons
why regions near and at the poles experience very
long nights and very long days at certain times of
the year. For example, in Norway, the Sun never
completely descends beneath the horizon between
late May to late July.
 GIF
Apsidal precession is the additional
gradual rotation of the orbital ellipse of the
Earth in space relative to fixed stars. It
completes a cycle approximately every 112
000 years.
 GIF
Fun Fact
The Moon has
a apsidal
precession of
approximately
every 8.85
years.
◈ Watch: Milankovitch cycles precession and obliquity | Cosmology & Astronomy | Khan
Academy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD8THEz18gc
The Earth in the distant past has been both warmer and cooler than today.
The Cretaceous Period (120 to 65 million years ago) was 5º to 7ºC warmer than today and CO 2
concentrations were much higher. Cooling then occurred from the Tertiary Period to the
Quaternary Period (2.5 million years ago). The past million years has generally seen a series of
changes from major ice ages (glacial periods) to interglacial periods about every 100 000 years,
and other variations with shorter periods.
So what makes the climate change we are now experiencing different? The modern climate is
changing far more quickly than in the geological past.
Key Terms
◈ The Greenhouse Effect ◈ Milankovitch Cycle
◈ Greenhouse Gases ◈ Eccentricity
◈ Runaway Greenhouse Effect ◈ Axial Tilt (Obliquity)
◈ Plate Tectonic Supercycle ◈ Axial Precession
◈ Massive Volcanic Eruptions ◈ Apsidal Precession
◈ Bolide Impacts
◈ Ocean Circulation
◈ Solar Activity
◈ Sunspots
The End