Saturday, May 7, 2011

Natural Occuring Phenomenon

 There is scientific proof of natural occurring cyclic activities that affect earth’s temperature. For the past million years the natural climate of earth has cycled between warm periods and cold periods; the shifting in and out of these cycles is associated with Milankovitch Cycles. According to the OSSS, "The Milankovitch cycle was created by an astronomer named Milutin Milankovitch who stated that the orbital gravitational forces caused by the movement of other planets in our solar system affects earth’s orbit just as ours affects theirs; thus, changes our orbit around the sun, the tilt of our axis, and the wobble of our axis" (Global). When these factors bring the northern hemisphere of earth closer to the sun, perihelion, you see ice melting quickly, the sea levels rising, and warmer weather; on the other hand, when the northern hemisphere is further from the sun, aphelion, it causes cooling.  As of now we are in the "...warm period which is estimated to last 20,000 years and will soon be followed by a cold period, which could last around 80,000 years" (NASA). Likewise over the past million years we have seen continents shift due to plate tectonics which affect heat transfer through ocean circulations. The "...location of the seas are important in controlling the transfer of heat and moisture across the globe; therefore determining global climate"(NASA). An example of heat transfer through ocean circulation is the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, in this circulation you can see how heat is transferred through the ocean via great underwater currents; this cycle is estimated by NASA to "...take around a thousand years"(NASA). Plate movement also causes volcanoes to erupt; thus emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which causes global temperatures to rise.

Refer to links on the side.












Fig 1: wunderground.com/climate/abruptclimate.asp

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