CHAPTER 12

CLIMATE CHANGE

Carl Adrian N. Valdez

• It is a current in a sense that it has been put
under international spotlight since the start of
the 21st century. Data that have been
accumulated are used by scientists to
determine if there really is a significant
change in the earth's climate. But what does
climate change mean? Doesn't the climate
always change?
• Climate is not similar to weather which is constantly
changing. Climate refers to the long-term weather
patterns prevailing over a given area of the planet . The
term comes from a Greek word klinein meaning “to
slope”. It evolved into klima, connoting a zone or region of
the Earth as characterized by its atmospheric conditions.
In ancient Greece, the orb of the sun stood at a high
angle in the sky at noon time as ships sailed toward the
north, and the daytime temperature of the air would get
colder. Hence the klima in the north was colder that in the
south.
• Another consideration in explaining
climate change is the interaction between
the sun and the Earth. The best way to
visualize this relationship is to look at the
orbit of the Earth around the sun. With the
sun in the center, the Earth moves in an
elliptical motion.
 EARTH'S MOVEMENT AROUND THE SUN

• While the orbit remains an eclipse, its position or

orientation in space changes over time. Due to the
tilt of the Earth, the whole area does not receive an
equal amount of sunlight. The Earth spins around
its own axis, an imaginary line from the North Pole
to the South Pole, which dips and wobbles
gradually. The Earth could then be imagined like a
spinning top or trumpo, turning and woobling in its
path about the sun.
 The elements of this interaction between the Sun and
the Earth are defined as follows;

• Aphelion refers to the point in the orbit of

the Earth farthest from the sun.
• Perihelion is the point in the orbit of the
Earth closest to the sun.
• Earth's axial tilt is the inclination angle of
the Earth's rotational axis in relation to a
line perpendicular to its orbital plane.
• Precession is the change of the
orientation of the rotational axis of the
Earth.
• Equinox refers to the time the sun at
noon is directly over the equator. It
happens twice a year and causes an
almost equal length of the day and night.
• Solstice happens when the sun at noon sits above
the Tropic of Cancer or Tropic of Capricorn . The
summer solstice has the longest period of daylight
in the year and the winter solstice has the shortest
period.
• Precession of the Equinox refers to the motion of
equinoxes relative to the precession of the Earth's
axis of rotation . It happens over thousands of
years.
 Milankovitch Parameters
• The Milankovitch or astronomical theory of climate
change is an explanation for changes in the seasons
which result from changes in the earth's orbit around the
sun. The theory is named for Serbian astronomer Milutin
Milankovitch
• Milankovitch parameters, are astronomical greats that
cause cyclic variations. They affect global climate change
-seen over the periods of thousands of years - on the
rhythm at which ice ages and interglacials alternate.
That's because they determine the intensity and
distribution of sunlight on the earth.
• They were co-drafted by serbian mathematician Milutin
Milanković. It is the eccentricity, obliquity and
precession,so parameters of the orbit and orientation of
mainly planets. The first scientific publication on this
subject was in 1976.
• The influence of the measure of these parameters on the
earth's temperature is due to the fact that the land
masses are not evenly distributed across the earth.
Variations in the climate can be investigated in the past,
for example, by means of sequencing stratigraphy over a
long period of time.
 The three Milanković parameters are:
• Eccentricity: Variations in the eccentricity of the
Earth's orbit have a periodicity of 100,000 years
• Obliquity: The change of the angle of the Earth's
axis from the plane in which the Earth revolves
around the sun, of obliquy,has a periodicity of
41,000 years
• Precession: The precession of the earth's axis has
a periodicity of 26,000 years.