Orbital Variations

Changes in the nature of the Earth's orbit around the sun, occur in time scales of millennia or longer. Can significantly alter the latitudinal and seasonal distribution of the radiation received. These are known as Milancovitch cycles. These cycles are forcing changes between glacial and interglacial conditions on Earth, with stops in between 10,000 and 100,000 years. The maximum of the last glaciation, occurred 18,000 years ago.

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