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Why Milankovitch (Orbital) Cycles Can’t Explain Earth’s Current Warming

Why Milankovitch (Orbital) Cycles Can’t Explain Earth’s Current Warming
Levels
  • Advanced (9-12+)
Material Type
  • Article/Informative Text
Heliophysics Big Ideas
  • Big Idea 1.3 – The Sun’s energy drives Earth’s climate…
NGSS
  • ESS2 - Earth's Systems
  • PS3 - Energy
Heliophysics Topics
  • Atmosphere
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Solar Cycle
Material Cost per Learner Free
Language English

Milankovitch cycles aren’t to blame for climate change because they occur over long time scales, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. Earth’s current warming has taken place over time scales of decades to centuries.

The amount of incoming solar radiation has increased only slightly over the past century and is therefore not a driver of Earth’s current climate warming. We are currently in an interglacial period, in between ice ages, so cooling not warming.

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