David Grinspoon Quote
We’ve been lulled into an illusion of stasis by unusual climate stability during our short time here. If you include the rest of our history as a species (most of it), before we started keeping continuous track of ourselves, you’ll find the story is different. Over longer timescales, Earth’s climate has gone through large swings and, left to its own devices, will continue to do so. Blame it on Jupiter. Climate cycles on Earth are, in large part, a consequence of its existence as one planet in a solar system of many. Graphed over large stretches of Earth time, the complex warming and cooling oscillation of climate reveals polyrhythmic patterns. The major beats occur at intervals of 23,000, 41,000, and 100,000 years. We call these the Milanković cycles, after Milutin Milanković, the Serbian astronomer and mathematician who is considered one of the founders of planetary climatology.
We’ve been lulled into an illusion of stasis by unusual climate stability during our short time here. If you include the rest of our history as a species (most of it), before we started keeping continuous track of ourselves, you’ll find the story is different. Over longer timescales, Earth’s climate has gone through large swings and, left to its own devices, will continue to do so. Blame it on Jupiter. Climate cycles on Earth are, in large part, a consequence of its existence as one planet in a solar system of many. Graphed over large stretches of Earth time, the complex warming and cooling oscillation of climate reveals polyrhythmic patterns. The major beats occur at intervals of 23,000, 41,000, and 100,000 years. We call these the Milanković cycles, after Milutin Milanković, the Serbian astronomer and mathematician who is considered one of the founders of planetary climatology.
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About David Grinspoon
His research focuses on comparative planetology, with a focus on climate evolution on Earth-like planets and implications for habitability. He has also studied, written and lectured on the human influence on Earth, as seen in cosmic perspective.
He has published four books, Venus Revealed, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times book prize, Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life, which won the 2004 PEN literary award for nonfiction, Earth in Human Hands, which was named one of NPR's Science Friday "Best Science Books of 2016" and Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto, co-authored with Alan Stern. He is adjunct professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Science at the University of Colorado, a former Fellow of the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth College and a former Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the College of the Environment at Wesleyan University.