Earth Sciences 2240F/G Study Guide - Final Guide: Milankovitch Cycles, Equatorial Bulge, Positive Feedback
14 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Climate systems: what is the relationship between forcing factors and responses . Forcing factors: factors that cause climate changes. Responses: variation in climate produced by forcing event: know the 3 main external forcing factors: Circulation of ocean currents depends on location and arrangement of continents. Milutin milankovitch: earth orbits in systematic manner, amount of tilt of earth"s axis changes by 3 degrees in a pattern repeating every 41000 years. Lower tilt means less contrast between summer and winter: wobble of earth"s axis results from varying gravitational pull of sun and moon on equatorial bulge causes changes in direction of earth"s tilt. Proven through correlation between solar radiation and historical temperature. Also sunspots result in variations of solar radiation. Climate change responses: understand response time and how different changes in a forcing can result in different amounts of climate responses. Rate of response of the climate system is fastest when the climate is farthest from the equilibrium is seeks.
