Answer:
Explanation:
Climate can be affected by many factors. On the west coast of South America in Peru, many Peruvians depend upon the fishing industry. Fishermen find a wealth of fish in the cool nutrient-rich Pacific waters. Occasionally, these same nutrient-rich waters warm up, and the fish disappear. When this has happened, the fishermen would be temporarily out of work, but this warming does not last, and then the waters would return to normal with abundant schools of fish. This ocean warming phenomenon would often occur near Christmas, so the fishermen started referring to these warming events as El Niño. In Spanish, El Niño is short for “El Niño Jesus” meaning “the child Jesus.” Scientists have continued to use the term El Niño for this change in ocean temperature. El Niño has been part of life for Peruvian fisherman for hundreds of years, but the global atmospheric affects of El Niño events have only recently come to the attention of atmospheric scientists. In the past twenty years, the “no fish” periods off the coast of Peru began to last longer, causing a serious disruption in the fishing industry of Peru. Scientists began to take note of this problem, and since then research seems to be indicating that a correlation seems to exist between El Niño events and global warming. Scientists began to wonder whether the El Niño events were the cause of global warming, or, whether global warming was the cause of the longer El Niño events. In the following activity you will explore the data and have a chance to consider the nature and the effects of El Niño events.
These natural cycles have, in the past, resulted in regional and global climates that are very different than our climate today. These natural influences are still at work but have recently been overshadowed somewhat by the influences of human-produced greenhouse gases.
The Milankovitch cycles relate to the effect that the Earth’s positioning with respect to the sun has on the Earth’s climate.There are three Milankovitch cycles:
eccentricity (orbit)
obliquity (tilt)
precession (wobble)
We also take a look at changes in radiation from the sun
The Earth’s orbital patterns are always changing. This variation follows cyclical patterns that take thousands of years to repeat. The point the Earth is at in the cycle changes the distribution of solar radiation, and therefore, cooling or warming in different parts of the world.
The amount and distribution of solar energy that Earth has received (due the Earth’s natural orbital variations) is thought to be responsible for triggering major climate epochs in the past, such as ice ages.
hope it helps
