Article,
Astronomical theory of the Pleistocene ice ages - A brief historical review
Icarus, (June 1982)
DOI: 10.1016/0019-1035(82)90132-4
Abstract
The evolution of the astronomical theory of the earth's Pleistocene ice ages is described, with emphasis on the interplay between climatic theory and geologic observation. Serious difficulties have been encountered from the publication of Milankovitch's final version (1941) to the early 1970s, due to the inaccuracy of the geologic time scale and the ambiguity of the climatic predictions invoked in time domain empirical tests of the theory which compared the predicted climate curves with the geologic climate record. This situation was resolved by the more recent availability of long and closely sampled records, which permit the arrangement of generalized but unambiguous tests of the theory in the frequency domain through comparison of orbital and climatic spectra. The concept of the influence of the Pleistocene climate of the earth by orbital variations has been decisively confirmed, and the emphasis of current work has shifted to the identification and quantitative modeling of the physical mechanisms by which this climate system responds to radiative boundary conditions.
