Vostok Core and Milankovic Cycles Climate Applet

Tom Whittaker, University of Wisconsin

An applet about the Milankovitch cycle that relates temperature over the last 400,000 years to changes in the eccentricity, precession, and orbital tilt of Earth's orbit.

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Notes from our reviewers

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Instructor should take a few minutes to go over the directions below the applet. Be sure to note that you can view the diagram from either the top or the side view.
Allows direct comparison, on a graph, between temperature data derived from the Vostok ice core and forcing from the major Milankovitch cycles, paired with animation of Earth's orbit, tilt, and precession over the last 400,000 years. These cycles were first calculated by Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankoviñâ in the early 20th Century and are now well established as important factors that can drive long term climate processes. See: [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/clisci100k.html#cycles] Because of the understanding of these cycles, climatologists are confident that recent warming is not being caused by such orbital cycles. Comments from expert scientist: The Sun-Earth Geometry is nicely demonstrated The change in Earth's orbit is not displayed. This is the key to Milankovitch Cycles.