Earth Sun Geometry

Define/describe aphelion, perihelion, North Star, plane of the ecliptic

Trace the path of the perpendicular rays of the sun over the surface of
the Earth over a year
Explain how tilt generates the march of the seasons
Explain how tilt shapes sun angle and the length of daylight
Explain how sun angle controls the intensity and amount of insolation
Describe how insolation patterns vary for the tropics, the midlatitudes,
and the poles over a year for both the Northern and Southern
hemispheres
Sketch a conceptual model for the march of seasons
Define the components of Milankovitch orbital cycles
Define/describe interglacial, glacial, Pleistocene, Holocene
Explain how the last glacial maximum and Holocene warming have
shaped sea levels
Describe how weak seasonal contrasts create glacial conditions
Describe how strong seasonal contrasts create interglacial conditions

Earth-Sun Geometry
Driving variable of environmental processes on
Earth
Geometry determines the amount and intensity
of incoming solar radiation (insolation) reaching
particular earth
Geometry (and how it changes) determines:
Seasonality (1 yr)
Glacial (cold) and interglacial (warm) periods (1000s
of years)

Which determines march of the

seasons?
Tilt?

Aphelion and
perihelion?

Tilt is more relevant for

the march of the seasons.

What determines the march of

the seasons?

Tilt and solar radiation

Headlights effect
Flashlight effect
Variation in day length
over a year
Changing sun angles
over a year
Greater heating of the
tropics
Radiation imbalance

Ultimate causes

Proximate causes

North Star

Southern Cross

In conjunction with the curvature of the Earth, tilt

determines the concentration and distribution of insolation
striking the earth

Flashlight effect
Headlights effect

Flashlight effect

TROPICS

MIDLATITUDES

High sun angle:

Larger concentration
of insolation per area

Intermediate sun angle

HIGH LATITUDES

Low sun angle:

Smaller concentration of
insolation per area.

Headlights effect

As the Earth revolves around the

Sun, tilt creates variation in day
and night lengths over the duration
of a calendar year

Circle of illumination

What day of the year is this?

Over the course of a calendar year, the Earths tilt

creates variation in the angle between the horizon and
the Sun. Maximum sun angles occur summer,
minimums in winter.

Solar declination: latitude that receives direct overhead (90 degrees) insolation.
Declination, migrates annually from Tropic of Cancer (+23.5 N) to Tropic of
Capricorn (-23.5S). Locations between these two latitudes are the only locations
on Earth that get sunlight directly overhead at some point during the year.

But what is a more proximate explanation

for the march of the seasons?
the energy
imbalance
between tropics
and poles drives
circulation of
atmosphere and
ocean.

As this radiation shifts back forth over a year (in

response to the Earth revolving around the Sun), we
experience it as the march of the seasons the change
from warm to cold, from summer to winter

http://www.vets.ucar.edu/vg/thornto
n/movies/ustmax1997.mpg

Long-term variations in Earth-Sun

geometry
Contribute to alternating
climates:
Interglacial (warm)
Glacial (cold)

Have profound effects on

sea-level
Pleistocene: approximately 2
million year period of glacials
and interglacials

Pleistocene was not an Ice

Age, but a two million year
period of oscillating warm and
cold climates.

Interglacials and glacial period

Maximum extent of glaciation during

the Pleistocene - 1/3 of the Earths land
surface

Important dates for natural climate

change
Wisconsin glaciation
Last glacial maximum
in North America
Peaked 8,000 ybp
(years before present)
Boreal forests
extended as far south
as Atlanta and
Birmingham, Alabama.

Important dates for natural climate

change
Holocene interglacial
(10,000 ybp)
Return of warmer
conditions

Milankovitch Cycles
Name of the geometric changes that
influence Earth-Sun geometry over long
temporal scales
Three components:
Orbital eccentricity
Obliquity
Precession

Milankovitch cycles shape

interglacials and glacial periods

1. Orbital eccentricity
Distance between Earth & Sun changes
over scale of ~100,000 years
This changes length of seasons

2. Obliquity
Tilt varies between 22-24.5 degrees over
a time scale of ~40,000 years.
Present tilt of 23.5 degrees can be
considered unchanging from your scale of
observation

3. Precession
Earth wobbles on its
axis
Physics of a spinning
object
Point in orbit where
aphelion and
perihelion varies
slightly
Occurs over times
scales of ~20,000
years

Components of
Milankovitch Cycles

Mechanism?
Milankovitch cycles create weaker or
stronger seasonal contrasts.
Weaker seasonal contrastsglacial
climates dominate
Stronger seasonal contrastsinterglacial
climates dominate

Interglacial (warm) epoch

Strong seasonal contrasts
Highly elliptic orbit and large tilt
Cold winters: less evaporation: less snow: less glacial
accumulation
Hot summers: more glacial melting
Net loss of glacial extent and warmer temperatures
Sea levels rise

Glacial (cold) epoch

Weak seasonal contrasts
Less elliptic orbit and small tilt
Warm winters: more evaporation: more snow: more
glacial accumulation
Cool summers: less glacial melting
Net gain of glacial extent and cooler temperatures
Sea levels drop

Visualization of impacts of
Milankovitch cycles on
total solar radiation over
15,000 year period
Large contrasts in color
across the globe reflect
greater seasonality and
interglacial conditions
When the color is uniform,
seasonal contrasts are low
conditions for a glacial period
Note weak contrasts in
seasonality roughly 18,000
years ago (last pulse of glacial
expansion during the
Wisconsin glaciation) and
strong contrasts in seasonality
10,000 years ago (beginning
of warming that marked start
of Holocene)