Scientists have finally put to bed a long-standing question over the role of Earth’s orbit in driving global ice age cycles.
In a new study published today in the journal Science, the team from Cardiff University has been able to pinpoint exactly how the tilting and wobbling of the Earth as it orbits around the Sun has influenced the melting of ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere over the past 2 million years or so.
Scientists have long been aware that the waxing and waning of massive Northern Hemisphere ice sheets results from changes in the geometry of Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
There are two aspects of the Earth’s geometry that can influence the melting of ice sheets: obliquity and precession.
Read more at Cardiff University
Photo Credit: alpha-cruiser via Pixabay