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1 results

  • 5 - Quaternary Glacial Cycles

  • Andrey Ganopolski, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
  • Book:
    Quaternary Climate Dynamics
    Published online:
    17 December 2025
    Print publication:
    22 January 2026, pp 110-142

  • Summary

    The chapter describes Quaternary glacial cycles. It begins by outlining the main empirical evidence regarding the magnitude, typical periodicity and spatial pattern of Quaternary climate variability at orbital time scales, including changes in atmospheric composition and global ice volume. The chapter explores the current understanding of the mechanisms of Quaternary glacial cycles, starting with the classical Milankovitch theory, highlighting its strengths and shortcomings, and then provides an overview of modeling work carried out with different types of models aimed at testing the theory and reproducing the reconstructed climate variability associated with glacial cycles. The role of glacial-interglacial variations in atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the proposed mechanism of this variability are examined. The cause of the onset of Quaternary glacial cycles 2.7 million years ago and the transition from obliquity-dominated glacial cycles to the dominant 100,000-year periodicity one million years ago are discussed in relation to recent modeling results.