Open AccessInsolation and glacials
Author(s) -
KUKLA GEORGE JIR̊I
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1972.tb00145.x
Subject(s) - milankovitch cycles , insolation , geology , northern hemisphere , glacial period , climatology , albedo (alchemy) , volcano , paleoclimatology , atmospheric sciences , southern hemisphere , snow , climate change , paleontology , oceanography , art , geomorphology , performance art , art history
Climatic changes result from variables in planetary orbits which modulate solar energy emission and change seasonal and latitudinal distribution of heat received by the Earth. Small insolation changes are multiplied by the albedo effect of the winter snow fields of the Northern Hemisphere, by ocean‐atmosphere feedbacks, and, probably, by the stratospheric ozone layer. The role of volcanic explosions and other aperiodic phenomena is secondary. The immediate climate response to insolation trends permits astronomic dating of Pleistocene events. A new glacial insolation regime, expected to last 8000 years, began just recently. Mean global temperatures may eventually drop about 1 o C in the next hundred years. A refinement of the Milankovitch theory in terms of the lunar orbit and more data on solar periodicities are needed for reliable long range predictions.