Astronomical Frequencies in Paleoclimates

Abstract

Definition The long-term variations of climate display periods characteristic of three astronomical parameters which are the eccentricity (which fixes the shape of the Earth's orbit), obliquity (the tilt of the equatorial plane on the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun), and climatic precession (a measure of the distance from the Earth to the Sun at the summer solstice). Their main periods of variations are 400 and 100 kyr for eccentricity, 41 kyr for obliquity, and 23 and 19 kyr for precession.