What has caused warm and cold climate cycles on Earth over the last 2 million years?
Over at least the past million years, glacial and interglacial cycles have been triggered by variations in how much sunlight reaches the Northern Hemisphere in the summer, which are driven by small variations in the geometry of Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
What has caused the climate of the earth to change in the past?
Earth’s climate has changed dramatically many times since the planet was formed 4.5 billion years ago. These changes have been triggered by the changing configuration of continents and oceans, changes in the Sun’s intensity, variations in the orbit of Earth, and volcanic eruptions.
What is the phenomenon of increasing average temperature of the Earth called?
Global Warming
Global Warming is the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. It begins with a phenomenon called the greenhouse effect.
When did Vikings settle in Greenland?
Greenland was settled by Vikings from Iceland in the 10th century, beginning with the voyage of Erik the Red from Breiðafjörður bay in west Iceland in 985.
How did the Vikings make a living in Greenland?
The economy of the Norse Greenlanders depended on a combination of pastoral farming with hunting and some fishing. Farmers kept cattle, sheep and goats – shipped into the island – for their milk, cheese and butter, while most of the consumed meat came from hunted caribou and seals.
What causes climate cycles?
Ocean-atmosphere interactions regularly cause climate cycles on the order of years to decades. One of the most well-known cycles is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), an interaction between ocean temperatures and atmospheric patterns (commonly known as El Niño or its opposite effect, La Niña).
What causes Milankovitch cycles?
This wobble is due to tidal forces caused by the gravitational influences of the Sun and Moon that cause Earth to bulge at the equator, affecting its rotation. The trend in the direction of this wobble relative to the fixed positions of stars is known as axial precession.
What causes rise in atmospheric temperature?
The reason for rise in atmospheric temperature is the increase in amount of green house gases present in the atmosphere. As the green house gases increase they trap more and more of heat radiated from the earth’s surface. Thereby increasing the temperature of the earth.
What region of Earth is experiencing the most rapid increase in average temperatures?
The earth’s largest land masses and its north and south poles are warming the fastest, mainly because of differences in how these areas reflect energy from the sun. For more than a century, scientists have taken temperature readings around the world from land-based labs, ships, and satellites.