Eccentricity by

vertix — 2015-09-14 20:09:53 UTC

I'm going to be exploring the concept of eccentricity. Before I get straight into how it affects the climate on earth, here's a quick description on what it is:

So what does this word really mean?

vertix — 2015-09-16 00:40:13 UTC

The technical definition of eccentricity is "deviation of a curve or orbit from circularity", and is how we explain why the Earth's orbit looks like an oval instead of a circle. Take a look at this legitimate diagram that I didn't draw on paint.net:

How does eccentricity affect climate?

vertix — 2015-09-16 00:41:47 UTC

Eccentricity is the shape of Earth's orbit. Over a 100,000 year time period, the orbit changes from a near circle to an oval, then back again. Currently, it's pretty much a circular orbit (a near circular orbit). Since it is that, the Earth is closer to the sun in January than is is in July, which causes more solar energy to reach the earth during January.

This effect is small compared to the variation in incoming sunlight caused by the tilt of the earth, so at this point the eccentricity has very little effect on the climate over the year. If the Earth's orbit became a complete oval, it'd be warmer when the Earth was closer to the sun regardless of its tilt, and the length of seasons would change. Have some diagrams

vertix — 2015-09-16 00:52:59 UTC

Another definition the word holds is "the quality of being eccentric" but that's not extremely important right now.

vertix — 2015-09-16 01:17:12 UTC

vertix — 2015-09-16 01:35:42 UTC

vertix — 2015-09-16 01:35:54 UTC

vertix — 2015-09-17 11:14:54 UTC

Eccentricity measures how elliptical an orbit is, a higher eccentricity means the orbit is more elliptical. A lower eccentricity means the orbit is circular