Topic 1 – The Earth’s Seasons
1. Seasons of the year. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2011, from National Aeronautics and Space
Administration website: http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sseasons.htm
If Earth’s axis were perpendicular to the ecliptic (Earth’s orbital path around the Sun), the Sun’s position in relation to Earth would always be halfway between the North and South Poles; its view from any point on Earth would be the same every day; and every point on Earth, except at the poles, would be in shadow (night) half the time and in sunlight (day) half the time. Because Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted from the perpendicular, Earth experiences seasons. The spring equinox occurs about March 21 and the fall equinox occurs about September 22 and during this time the length of day and night is equal. The summer solstice occurs about June 21 and the winter solstice occurs about December 21. The North Pole is tilted toward the Sun during the summer solstice and faces away from the Sun during the winter solstice (Seasons, n.d.).
2. Astronomical theory of climate change. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2011, from National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/milankovitch.html
Milutin Milankovitch, a Serbian astronomer, developed an astronomical theory that explains climate change. When the tilt of Earth’s axis changes, the severity of the seasons changes; a greater degree of tilt means warmer summers and cooler winters, while a decrease in the tilt means coolers summers and warmer winters. Because Earth wobbles in orbit, the tilt can range from 22 degrees to 25 degrees on a 41,000-year cycle. Currently, the tilt is at 23.5 degrees. Other...
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... for marine life. During an El Niño event, westerly winds at the western end of the basin permit warm water to flow eastward and trade winds weaken. The storm zone and atmospheric convection move with the warm water resulting in heavy rainfall and flooding along coastal areas of western South America. The thermocline (the boundary layer between the warm surface water and the deeper, colder water) deepens and the cold water isn’t pushed up, which deprives marine life of necessary nutrients. During a La Niña event, trade winds grow stronger and the warm pool shrinks, which results in a colder, drier climate off the coast of America. Atmospheric convection is restricted to the western end of the basin and abundant rain falls over Indonesia. Cold waters along the west coast of South America surge upward and nutrients are plentiful for marine life (El Niño, n.d.).
Mark Cane, scientist at Columbia University, discusses numerous places around the world that suffer famine and fires due to the effects of El Nino, even mentioning an occurrence here in the United States of an extreme snow storm caused by this event1. According to NOAA, El Nino occurs every 2-7 years and is detected by satellites, buoys, and sea level analysis . If scientists are aware of when El Nino is occurring then they are also aware of what changes in weather it is causing and can therefore connect these disasters to the event. It is
...tthews, John. The summer solstice: celebrating the journey of the sun from May Day to
An El Niño is a temporary change in the climate of the Pacific Ocean, in the region around the equator. An El Nino occurs when the winds that usually push water around get weaker. When this happens, the warm water piles up and not as much cold water gets pulled up from below. In doing this it provides the El Nino with its trademark, which is increasing the ocean temperature, a few degrees. The difference between an El Nino and a La Nina is just about everything. The La Nina is everything an El Nino is but reversed. Instead of warming taking place in the central and eastern Tropical Pacific cooling takes place. This is caused by instead of the trade winds blowing softer they blow harder cooling down the
EL Nino also “affects” wind shear, which is when air currents at a lower altitude blow in a different direction from winds higher in the atmosphere. On the other hand La Nina is the positive phase of the El Nino southern Oscillation and is associated with cooler- than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical pacific ocean. El Nino is like La Niña brother, El Nino as the warm phrase and La Nina as the cold phrase. During an El Niño event, the relationship between winds and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean changes, modifying weather conditions around the world.It is possible that WFP will be stretched operationally and financially during 2016 when the impacts of the El Niño event translate into increased food assistance needs across most of our areas of operation. Oscillations occur naturally in oceans all across the world; some have a limited impact on the regional weather and wider climate, and some have a much greater impact (4). El Niño and La Niña are examples of oscillations that have a greater impact on our climate with effects that are perhaps surprisingly felt all over the globe (5).
Earth is a planet that has experienced a great mixture of gradual and dramatic change over its 4.5 billion year history. Throughout the geological time scale, climate change really can be considered normal. Unfortunately, that is not how many humans view it. Humans tend to fear change and the unknown, so any modification to our familiar few thousand years, we freak out. With the aid of science and an open-mind, we can use current technology and reasoning to piece together our planet’s past, and possibly catch a glimpse of what is to come.
Dyson, Marianne J. Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade. New York: Facts on File, 2007. 14+. Print.
This occurs due to the changes happening periodically in the seas’ surface temperature. The effects of warm and cool currents cause the changes in temperature in the land around. El Nino is the effect of warm currents and the effect of cool currents is La Nina. Walker situation is the movement of air in the atmosphere. During an El Nino, there is drought and less rainfall than in necessary causing the so-called ‘dryness’ in Australia.
Many people hated his ideas. Also around that time, Scottish scientist James Croll investigated how the earth's position to the sun caused colder temperatures. He was never able to convince any one of his ideas, but 100 years later the Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch came to the conclusion that even slight changes in the earths orbit affects its climate. There are many models of how the earth was created overtime. What all these models had in common was the earth had a static climate. In the different models the earth was either the same temperature back then as it is now or it was hotter in the past and cooled overtime. None of the models show that the earth had random hot-cold climate
Two things that cause seasons on the Earth are the Earthś orbit around the sun, and the tilt that Earth has on its axis. First of all, the Earth orbits around the sun, while the Earth’s axis stays consistent throughout the revolution. This occurs because the sun is the center gravity of our solar system, and each planet revolves around it, including our planet. Therefore, the part of the Earth that is tilted toward the sun can change as the Earth orbits the sun. While the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, direct light hits it and the Northern Hemisphere has summer because it is closer to the sun and these countries receive longer hours of daylight. During this time of the year, the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing winter
An El Nino happens in intervals of 3-7 years. The formation of this is related to the Pacific Southern Oscillation which is also the cycling of the Pacific Ocean circulation. The Pacific Southern Oscillation (the change of atmospheric pressures) happens when the easterly trade winds collapse, weaken, or even reverse. As this happens, the upwelling stops. The slight weakening of the winds cause a small change in sea surface temperatures, and the wind and pressure changes increase. The warm water of the western Pacific Ocean flow eastward and sea surface temperatures increase on the western coast of South America. When this occurs, the wet weather conditions (originally in the western Pacific) move east, and dry conditions (normally in the east) appear in the west.
Did you know that without the Earths rotation and axis we wouldn't have the same night and day time or the same seasons that we would. The speed of the rotation is a major factor that most people don't think about that could make a major effect if it was not the way it is now. Also the tilt of the axis is an important factor in the seasons and day/night hours. In my research I have found out why and how they are so important with the Earth’s rotation.
This means that the north and south pole will only receive half of sunlight each, because of the way the earth tilt and where the sun light is facing. That 's why some country are really hot because they face right at the sun and they have longer days because the sun takes longer to go away .
While Earth’s orbit around the Sun does play a role in the changing of the seasons, it’s not because the Earth receives more solar energy when it’s closer to the Sun or less energy when it’s further away.
The summer solstice of the northern hemisphere occurs on June 21 or June 22, the first “official” day of the summer, it is hot. The sun vertical at Latitude 23 1/2 degrees north latitude, the Tropic of Cancer. It is the highest Sun angle and the longest length
(2001) gave a comprehensive outline of the major climate events that have occurred during the last 65 Ma of Earth’s history as well as describing the forces which propel said changes in climate. They show how many of the changes that occur to Earth climate can be attribute to Earth’s tectonic plates as well as Earth’s orbit, both of which are continually moving and changing. Some of these change are predictable which allows for a prediction into future climate events, but some events are random and cannot be predicted, though insight can be gained by finding similar conditions in the past and relating them to present times The paper also describes how the advancement in deep-sea core and isotope technology has allowed for the studying of event further in the past, events that were once considered too far into the past to ever