The Amazon Reveals Its Secrets—Partly

摘要

The amount of solar irradiation received at any one time and place on Earth's surface, or insolation, is determined by long-term cyclical changes in the rotation and orbit of Earth around the sun. These insolation changes are thought to play an important role in driving global climate change, but little is known about their effects at high versus low latitudes. Did climate change in the tropics lead or lag ice volume changes at higher latitudes during global ice age cycles? And is tropical climate variability caused by changes in seasonal insolation at low latitudes, or do insolation changes at high latitudes affect the tropics indirectly through long distance effects of large-scale climate features such as El Nino-Southern Oscillation?