Abstract
The variations in incoming solar radiation (outside the earth’s atmosphere) produced by changes in the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, earth obliquity and longitude of perihelion have been recalculated for 10° latitude intervals between 20 and 70N at 1000-yr intervals for the past 500,000 yr.
The variations in N-S incoming radiation gradient are related to variations in N-S thickness gradient, thermal wind and thermal Rossby number by means of an empirical relationship between radiation gradient and thickness gradient determined from their annual variation.
Calculations indicate that changes of about ±5% from present day summer half-year thermal winds and about ±2% from present day winter half-year thermal winds have occurred. Evidence is cited to show that these variations can be significant.
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Kutzbach, J.E., Bryson, R.A., Shen, W.C. (1968). An Evaluation of the Thermal Rossby Number in the Pleistocene. In: Mitchell, J.M. (eds) Causes of Climatic Change. Meteorological Monographs, vol 8. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-935704-38-6_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-935704-38-6_13
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