SOCI 234 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Beringia, Sea Surface Temperature, Dendroclimatology
6 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Driving mechanism of climate change are the variations in insolation (solar radiation) controlled by the orbital-beat cycles (milankovitch). These are: eccentricity (changes in the shape of earth"s orbit, obliquity (changes in the tilt of the earth"s axis, precession (shifting schedule of the equinoxes) The overlay of these cycles produces a complex rhythm. Whatever the extent of future global warming based on human activities, it is possible that there will be a natural warming trend for another 20,000 years. Advances in observation methods particularly in deep-sea drilling and ice-cap or glacial coring, have made the measurement of climate change possible. Dating measured through dendrochronology, counting the yearly growth of tree rings: this can be used to reconstruct annual precipitation (dendroclimatology) Coral, ice cores, and laminated marine drift also allow year-by-year dating in addition to providing evidence of climate effects: record of global temperature change by measuring oxygen isotopes.
