Milankovitch Cycles
http://www.sciencecourseware.org/eec/GlobalWarming/Tutorials/Milankovitch/
http://www.sciencecourseware.org/eec/GlobalWarming/Tutorials/Milankovitch/
[http://www.sciencecourseware.org/eec/GlobalWarming/Tutorials/Milankovitch/]
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Climate Literacy
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1c 
1cThe tilt of Earth’s axis relative to its orbit around the Sun results in predictable changes in the duration of daylight and the amount of sunlight received at any latitude throughout a year. These changes cause the annual cycle of seasons and associated temperature changes.
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Gradual changes in Earth's rotation and orbit around the Sun change the intensity of sunlight received in our planet’s polar and equatorial regions. For at least the last 1 million years, these changes occurred in 100,000-year cycles that produced ice ages and the shorter warm periods between them.
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Sun is the primary source of energy for Earth’s climate system
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Benchmarks for Science Literacy
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Because the earth turns daily on an axis that is tilted relative to the plane of the earth's yearly orbit around the sun, sunlight falls more intensely on different parts of the earth during the year. The difference in intensity of sunlight and the resulting warming of the earth's surface produces the seasonal variations in temperature.
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Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy |
Technical Details
Teaching Tips
- Students struggle to understand these concepts of precession, eccentricity, and obliquity; this animated visualization will help.
- The quizzes that are included are either very simplistic or problematic to get correct answers to (this is particularly true for the one on obliquity cycles). However, the visualizations, although relatively old, are accurate and well-explained.
About the Science
- Animations are provided of the three major Milankovitch Cycles that impact global climate, visually demonstrating the definitions of eccentricity, obliquity, and precession.
- The visual exaggeration of cycles is enormous, but is acknowledged in text on the slides.
- Comments from expert scientist: The activity is a good review/introduction of the concepts of Milankovitch cycles.
- The questions posed along with the progression of the activity are a good check for understanding of the material.
- Educator should define the term "insolation" prior to use.
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