<p>I am trying to get a clearer picture of how the climate changed on Earth over the past 2 million years, and landed on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Milankovitch cycles</a>, which has a section on orbital eccentricity. Asking ChatGPT to simplify the explanation, it essentially says:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>405,000-Year Cycle</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>This is the most stable and long-lasting cycle, driven primarily by the resonance between Jupiter and Saturn’s orbits.</li>
<li>It results in a slow modulation of Earth’s eccentricity by about ±0.012 (small but significant over geological timescales).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p><strong>95,000-Year and 124,000-Year Cycles</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>These cycles are caused by shorter-term gravitational influences of Venus and Mars.</li>
<li>When these cycles interact, they produce a <strong>&quot;beat period&quot;</strong> of about <strong>100,000 years</strong>, meaning they amplify or dampen each other periodically.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p><strong>100,000-Year Cycle</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The 100,000-year cycle is not a direct periodicity but an emergent result of the interaction between the 95,000- and 124,000-year cycles.</li>
<li>Its variation in eccentricity ranges from <strong>−0.03 to +0.02</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Can you elaborate on how this works, how they get the numbers? Not the exact math as Fourier transforms and differential equations would be out of my league. But knowing at a high level what goes into each calculation will help paint a better picture in my head so I can explain it to people without a college physics background.</p>
<ul>
<li>So if the 405k year cycle is caused by Jupiter/Saturn orbit, with +-0.012 modulation of eccentricity, what does this mean, it means at year 0 it is 0 modulation, and year 202.5 (half) it is at 0.012 modulation? Does it vary randomly throughout, or is it like a sine wave in how it cycles?</li>
<li>How do the 405k and the 95k/124k cycles interact, are they independent?</li>
<li>Is there a &quot;final effect&quot; of combining these cycles, or are the independent? ChatGPT told me that in the early Pliestocene (2.5mya - 1.8mya), through the middle pliestocene all the way to 0.8mya, there were ~41,000-year cycles. But then the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (~1.25–0.7 million years ago) is said to have these ~100k year cycles (assuming it is the same as the 100k year cycle listed above). Are these related to the Milankovitch cycles somehow?</li>
</ul>
<p>Basically, in summary, what is the set of cycles the Earth goes through in total, and how to explain it to the general public?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-04T12:05:53.983Z
As a general rule, it remains best not to rely on ChatGPT, Google's AI-generated answers, or any other chatterbox, for two key reasons. One is that they sometimes 'hallucinate'. They sometimes make up answers. They oftentimes misunderstand what they have gleaned from the internet. They don't yet know how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources. The other reason is that they don't provide references. It is a good idea to check references when reading an article about science. One cannot do that with chatterboxes. The combination of the two makes chatterboxes highly unreliable.
David Hammen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-04T23:25:52.420Z
I counted 6 specific questions and two grand questions: What is the set of cycles that the Earth goes through and how to explain these to the public.  I believe the rules allow for one specific question at a time.
eshaya
<orbit><solar-system><earth>
Elaborating how the 3 cycles of the Milankovitch cycles work (405k years, 95k years, and 124k years)?
Lance Pollard
# Elaborating how the 3 cycles of the Milankovitch cycles work (405k years, 95k years, and 124k years)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-12-03)

I am trying to get a clearer picture of how the climate changed on Earth over the past 2 million years, and landed on the [Milankovitch cycles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles), which has a section on orbital eccentricity. Asking ChatGPT to simplify the explanation, it essentially says:

1. **405,000-Year Cycle**

   * This is the most stable and long-lasting cycle, driven primarily by the resonance between Jupiter and Saturn’s orbits.
   * It results in a slow modulation of Earth’s eccentricity by about ±0.012 (small but significant over geological timescales).
2. **95,000-Year and 124,000-Year Cycles**

   * These cycles are caused by shorter-term gravitational influences of Venus and Mars.
   * When these cycles interact, they produce a **"beat period"** of about **100,000 years**, meaning they amplify or dampen each other periodically.
3. **100,000-Year Cycle**

   * The 100,000-year cycle is not a direct periodicity but an emergent result of the interaction between the 95,000- and 124,000-year cycles.
   * Its variation in eccentricity ranges from **−0.03 to +0.02**.

Can you elaborate on how this works, how they get the numbers? Not the exact math as Fourier transforms and differential equations would be out of my league. But knowing at a high level what goes into each calculation will help paint a better picture in my head so I can explain it to people without a college physics background.

* So if the 405k year cycle is caused by Jupiter/Saturn orbit, with +-0.012 modulation of eccentricity, what does this mean, it means at year 0 it is 0 modulation, and year 202.5 (half) it is at 0.012 modulation? Does it vary randomly throughout, or is it like a sine wave in how it cycles?
* How do the 405k and the 95k/124k cycles interact, are they independent?
* Is there a "final effect" of combining these cycles, or are the independent? ChatGPT told me that in the early Pliestocene (2.5mya - 1.8mya), through the middle pliestocene all the way to 0.8mya, there were ~41,000-year cycles. But then the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (~1.25–0.7 million years ago) is said to have these ~100k year cycles (assuming it is the same as the 100k year cycle listed above). Are these related to the Milankovitch cycles somehow?

Basically, in summary, what is the set of cycles the Earth goes through in total, and how to explain it to the general public?

**Tags:** orbit, solar-system, earth

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: As a general rule, it remains best not to rely on ChatGPT, Google's AI-generated answers, or any other chatterbox, for two key reasons. One is that they sometimes 'hallucinate'. They sometimes make up answers. They oftentimes misunderstand what they have gleaned from the internet. They don't yet know how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources. The other reason is that they don't provide references. It is a good idea to check references when reading an article about science. One cannot do that with chatterboxes. The combination of the two makes chatterboxes highly unreliable.  
> **username_2**: I counted 6 specific questions and two grand questions: What is the set of cycles that the Earth goes through and how to explain these to the public.  I believe the rules allow for one specific question at a time.  

---

## 0 answers

