SUMMARY

Content Source: CLEAN

Selected for the CLEAN Collection.

An applet about the Milankovich cycle that relates temperature over the last 400,000 years to changes in the eccentricity, precession, and orbital tilt of Earth's orbit.

GOALS

Following suggestions are by CLEAN reviewers:

• Instructor should take a few minutes to go over the directions below the applet.
• Be sure to note that you can view the diagram from either the top or the side view.
• Suggestion: first have students plot temperature data from the Vostok ice core (link on visualization page), and then use this applet to explore and 'test' the strength of various forcing cycles.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION AND TEACHING MATERIALS

Watch >> Milankovic Cycles Climate Applet

Printable  >> Discussion Questions

TEACHING NOTES / CONTEXT FOR USE

CLEAN reviewers comments about this resource:

About the Science:

• Allows direct comparison, on a graph, between temperature data derived from the Vostok ice core and forcing from the major Milankovitch cycles, paired with animation of Earth's orbit, tilt, and precession over the last 400,000 years.
• These cycles were first calculated by Serbian mathematician Milan Milankovic in the early 20th Century and are now well established as important factors that can drive long term climate processes. See:http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/clisci100k.html#cycles
• Because of the understanding of these cycles, climatologists are confident that recent warming is not being caused by such orbital cycles.
• Comments from expert scientist: The Sun-Earth Geometry is nicely demonstrated
• The change in the Earth's orbit is not displayed. This is the key to Milankovic Cycles.

About the Pedagogy:

• The direct comparison of the graph and animations allows different learning styles to engage simultaneously with the concepts.
• Very good example to use to explain a difficult concept, especially to visual learners.

Technical Details/Ease of Use:

• Applet loads quickly and plays fine on Firefox.
• Requires Adobe Flashplayer.

ASSESSMENT

Assessment is at the discretion of the educator and how this video is applied.