SIO 50 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Milankovitch Cycles, Plate Tectonics, Ice Core

• School: UCSD
• Department: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Course: SIO 50
• Professor: Geoffrey Cook

Document Summary

Glaciers: glaciers form where more snow falls in winter than melts during summer. Can be alpine (mountains: snow accumulates & is compacted to ice. Why are glaciers important: glaciers are the largest reservoir of fresh water in the world, good indicators of change in global climate. Effects of large-scale, continental glaciation: changes in sea level. Sea level rises during interglacial periods: changes in landscapes. Mess of dirt left over as the glaciers melted. Removal of glacial ice makes the continent slowly rise. Earth"s glacial history: the last ice age. Ice ages are periods when the earth"s climate is significantly cooler than the usual. Can be measured by finding measurements that are a proxy for temperature. Polling- take an ice core that"s similar to a tree ring. Coral- distribution of coral vs. how they grow. Climate basics: temperature on the surface of the earth depends on. Amount of solar energy reflected and absorbed.