Milankovitch Cycles

Milankovitch cycles are the periodic variations in Earth's orbital eccentricity, axial tilt and precession that alter the amount and distribution of solar radiation the planet receives, named for Serbian geophysicist Milutin Milankovic, who worked out their mathematical detail in the early twentieth century. The three cycles operate on distinct timescales, roughly 100,000 years for eccentricity, 41,000 years for axial tilt and about 26,000 years for precession, and their combined effect is widely credited with pacing the glacial and interglacial cycles of the Pleistocene ice ages. Evidence from deep-sea sediment cores and ice cores has shown that the timing of past climate shifts correlates closely with the predicted Milankovitch periodicities.