[decimon]

Weak eccentrics ping.

[DBrow]

A rediscovery of the Milankovich Cycles.

[mbarker12474]

Cyclic climate change?

No way!

</sarcasm off>

[Minn]

It’s ridiculous to think that little things like the orbits of celestial bodies would effect climate, when it’s obvious that climate is driven exclusively by backyard barbecues.

[pb929]

Move along, nothing to see here. The science is settled.

[ssaftler]

Let’s see, 1.2 million years versus 200 years of analytical data. Clearly, the 200 years of data is a far better indicator of trends!

In a related subject, Albert Pujols, who hit two home runs yesterday, is on a pace to hit a record shattering 324 home runs in 2010. Alex Rodriguez, on the other hand, is on pace to hit 0 for 2010.

[RatRipper]

She proabably thinks the earth is round, too. Heretic!!! /s

[centurion316]

I think that we may be on to something here. Too early to tell for sure, but it just may be that the Sun has a bigger effect on our climate than do humans. More research needed.

[r9etb]

Besides finding a link between change in the shape of the orbit and the onset of glaciation, Lisiecki found a surprising correlation. She discovered that the largest glacial cycles occurred during the weakest changes in the eccentricity of Earth's orbit –– and vice versa. She found that the stronger changes in the Earth's orbit correlated to weaker changes in climate. "This may mean that the Earth's climate has internal instability in addition to sensitivity to changes in the orbit," said Lisiecki.

That shouldn't be surprising at all. A large change in eccentricity means that the Earth is closer to the sun for half the year. A weak change means that, on average, the Earth will be farther away from the sun than in cycles with a "strong" change.

[Licensed-To-Carry]

She concludes that the pattern of climate change over the past million years likely involves complicated interactions between different parts of the climate system, as well as three different orbital systems.

So it really does not have anything to do with my wife's SUV?

[DManA]

1.2 million is NOTHING to a 4.6 billion year old planet.

[steelyourfaith]

Thanx !

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[Waco]

But , but, but, algorejr an Mortimer Snerd have this other theory.

[Reeses]

The soon to be unemployed researcher: Dr. Lorraine Lisiecki

[JustDoItAlways]

She would have had to recalculate the Milankovitch Cycle impacts to get the cycles or the Eccentricity of the Orbit to match up. [She might have though].

The two yellow lines on this chart are the Milankovitch Cycles - summer solar insolation at 75N and the less variable one is the temperature impact from the Eccentricity of the orbit - the more circular it is, the more solar energy received by the Earth in total - they are not in sync at all.

[SunkenCiv]

She discovered that the largest glacial cycles occurred during the weakest changes in the eccentricity of Earth's orbit -- and vice versa. She found that the stronger changes in the Earth's orbit correlated to weaker changes in climate. "This may mean that the Earth's climate has internal instability in addition to sensitivity to changes in the orbit," said Lisiecki.

IOW, she has run into the same problems as everyone else who has attempted to devise a uniformitarian model for "cycles" in the "ice ages".

[Rod Serling voice] Imagine if you will a path for the Earth in which it remains so cold during the summers (not just a few summers, but thousands of them) that the snow just accumulates, and yet the oceans continue to be warm enough to continue the hydrologic cycle and the snow continues to fall. You'll have to imagine it, because it literally can't happen, outside of the Land of the Midnight Sun Twilight Zone.

Antarctica is the dryest of the continents, the least precipitation, and I think also has the highest elevation -- and less than three million years ago supported temperate plant species. The Eltanin impact happened about two million years ago. Not a coincidence.

[skeptoid]

She concludes that the pattern of climate change over the past million years likely involves complicated interactions between different parts of the climate system, as well as three different orbital systems. The first two orbital systems are the orbit's eccentricity, and tilt. The third is "precession," or a change in the orientation of the rotation axis.

. . . and the forth complicated interaction between different parts of the system is:

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Well there.

Maybe now we can get some local 5-day forecasts that are worth a damn.

[gigster]

Well, I could have told her that.