The ice-albedo feedback is based on A) the relationship ...

[rlane42]

The ice-albedo feedback is based on
 
  A) the relationship between albedo and insolation absorbed by the surface.
  B) the relationship between albedo and the ITCZ.
  C) the relationship between albedo and sulfate aerosols.
  D) the relationship between albedo and sea level.

Question 2

Give the details of the three main components of the Milankovitch cycles.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[AngeliqueG]

Answer to Question 1

Answer: A

Answer to Question 2

Answer: The eccentricity of Earth's orbit changes cyclically on several time scales, with a cycle of about 100,000 years being especially prominent. The tilt of the Earth's axis, obliquity, also varies cyclically, but with a dominant period of about 41,000 years, during which it varies between 22.1 and 24.5 off the perpendicular. Though the summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere currently occurs near the time of aphelion, this changes through time because the axis wobbles on a 27,000-year cycle. In other words, the axis of rotation gyrates so that in about 13,500 years it will point to a different star, Vega, instead of Polaris .This change in orientation of the Earth axis, called precession, directly alters the timing and intensity of the seasons.