Ian Bradford: A mini ice age may have already begun - are you prepared?

Milankovich cycles

Milankovich cycles describe the collective effects of changes in the Earth’s movements on its climate over thousands of years. In the eyes of Milutin Milankovich there has been a noticeable trend in climate, temperature and seasons due to this cycle. We can accredit these long term climate changes to three variations in geometry between the Earth and the sun.  

Milankovich was a Serbian geophysicist and astronomer who in the 1920’s hypothesized that variations in the Earth’s eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession combined to result in cyclical variations in the intra-annual and altitudinal distribution of solar radiation at the Earth’s surface, and that this strongly influenced the Earth’s climatic patterns. 

Viv Forbes: Climate Concern is Mis-directed.

“Climate” is sometimes defined as the thirty year “average” of weather. Climate is what we expect, on average – weather is what we actually get.

It is true that atmospheric conditions (dust, smoke, smog, aerosols, aircraft contrails, clouds and trace gases) can affect Earth’s weather. But none of these minor atmospheric constituents can generate energy – they merely filter, block, reflect, transfer or redirect a portion of solar energy.

Ron Smith: Climate change and the growing of the grape

A report in The Guardian (UK), a few days ago (8 April), was headed ‘Climate change will threaten wine production’.  A few days later (10 April), the New Zealand Herald carried a similar story,  ‘Warming likely boost to vineyards’.  Of course, the two reports are not as incompatible as they seem.