Site Options
External Forcing
External forcing factors are processes external to Earth and its atmosphere that influence Earth's climate. They include galactic variations, orbital variations, and sunspots.
Dark central region of a planet-sized sunspot. The bright filaments that extend into the sunspot have dark cores that are thousands of kilometers long but only about 100 km wide.
Göran Scharmer, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Swedish Solar Telescope on La Palma
Teaching Resources on External Forcing
Vetted articles on Exernal Forcing
Find resources on these 3 sub topics of External Forcing:
 |
 |
 |
Galactic Variations |
Orbital Variations |
Sunspots |
-
Featured Article
Climate Influences from Beyond the Solar System
The Earth’s climate isn’t just a product of what’s going on within its own atmosphere. Fluctuations in climate are also determined by forcing factors (causes)... More »
-
Featured Resource
Video: Striking a Solar Balance - CLEAN
SUMMARY Video length 3:35 min. This activity has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN Collection based on the following review comments: This NASA video... More »
-
Featured Resource
Simulation: Thunderstorm Simulation
An on-line thunderstorm simulator allows students to view how large convective clouds form. To learn how thunderstorms are formed. The format suggested for this lesson is... More »
-
Featured Resource
Simulation: Climate and Carbon Science Mission...
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has produced two dozen individual climate models simulating changes in the Earth's surface temperature and sea-ice extent at... More »
Model Climate Sensitivity
Last Updated on 2013-04-04 at 15:05
The response of climate to a perturbation such as a change in carbon dioxide concentration, or in the flux of energy from the sun, can be divided into two... More »
Recent Climate Change - NCSE-NASA
Last Updated on 2013-03-19 at 16:09
SUMMARY
Webinar available.
This is a data-driven module designed to address key questions about the stability of the Earth’s climate in the past and the factors... More »
Sun
Last Updated on 2013-02-10 at 16:43
The Sun is the ultimate source of energy for life on Earth, and it sustains nearly all aspects of human existence. The Sun is an ongoing hydrogen fusion... More »
Graphic: Cooling Factors - CLEAN
Last Updated on 2012-08-30 at 16:39
SUMMARY
This graphic has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN Collection based on the following review comments:
This qualitative graphic illustrates the various... More »
Seasons and Ecliptic Simulator - CLEAN
Last Updated on 2012-08-30 at 16:13
SUMMARY
This simulation has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN Collection based on the following review comments:
An interactive simulation of Earth's... More »
Milankovitch cycles
Last Updated on 2012-08-01 at 12:53
Milankovitch cycles refer to long term variations in the orbit of the Earth which result in changes in climate over periods hundred of thousands of years and are related... More »
-
Articles
-
Blog Posts -
Galleries -
News -
Resources
-
Videos
- Include Content from all Sub-Sections
| Type | Title | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retrieving data... | |||