Astronomical insolation forcing

Louvain-La-Neuve

Astronomical insolation forcing



The aim of the astronomical theory of paleoclimates is to study the relationship between insolation and climate at the global scale. It comprises four different parts: computation of the astronomical elements, computation of the appropriate insolation parameters, development of suitable climate models and analysis of geological data in the time and frequency domains in order to investigate the physical mechanisms, to calibrate and to validate the climate models.

Programs available:

The programme and data files for the computation of the orbital parameters and the insolation can be downloaded from this site.

Download the program for obtaining astronomical parameters and daily insolation for any month and any latitude according to Berger [1978]. This solution is suitable to compute from present-day values back to one million years ago.

Download the program for obtaining astronomical parameters and daily insolation for any month and any latitude according to Berger and Loutre [1991]. Values of astronomical parameters and insolation for some latitudes are also available for Download. This solution is recommended to compute from present-day back to millions of years ago.

Download the program "elliptical integrals" for calculating the total irradiation over any particular time period during a year and for any latitude [Berger et al., 2010].

The R package palinsol, to be used in R, provides a one-stop facility to the above. The development version is available on github. It computes daily, seasonal mean, etc. insolation using Berger, Berger-Loutre and Laskar solutions. 

 

Contacts: André Berger, Michel CrucifixQiuzhen Yin

References:

  • Berger A., 1978. Long-term variations of daily insolation and Quaternary climatic changes. J. Atmos. Sc., 35(12), 2362-2367.
  • Berger A. and Loutre M.F., 1991. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 10, 297-317.
  • Berger A., Loutre M.F., and Yin Q.Z., 2010. Total irradiation during any time interval of the year using elliptic integrals. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, 1968-1982.