Articles | Volume 9, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-1025-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-1025-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
20 Aug 2018
Research article |
| 20 Aug 2018
| 20 Aug 2018
A theory of Pleistocene glacial rhythmicity
Mikhail Y. Verbitsky
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
The Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Michel Crucifix
Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Dmitry M. Volobuev
The Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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33 citations as recorded by crossref.
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- Anti‐Phased Miocene Ice Volume and CO2 Changes by Transient Antarctic Ice Sheet Variability L. Stap et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020PA003971
- Nonlinear climate dynamics: From deterministic behaviour to stochastic excitability and chaos D. Alexandrov et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2020.11.002
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- A Theory of Orbital-Forced Glacial Cycles: Resolving Pleistocene Puzzles H. Ou https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11030564
- Orbital insolation variations, intrinsic climate variability, and Quaternary glaciations K. Riechers et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-863-2022
- The Mid-Pleistocene Transition: a delayed response to an increasing positive feedback? J. Shackleton et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06544-2
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- CO2 and summer insolation as drivers for the Mid-Pleistocene Transition M. Scherrenberg et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1061-2025
- Rapid communication: Middle Pleistocene Transition as a phenomenon of orbitally enabled sensitivity to initial values M. Verbitsky & A. Omta https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-17-2026
- Path-dependence of the Plio–Pleistocene glacial/interglacial cycles J. Carrillo et al. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322926121
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- 100 kyr ice age cycles as a timescale-matching problem T. Mitsui et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1569-2025
33 citations as recorded by crossref.
- Asymptotic analysis of internal relaxation oscillations in a conceptual climate model Ł. Płociniczak https://doi.org/10.1093/imamat/hxaa014
- The genome sequence of Mesua ferrea and comparative demographic histories of forest trees A. Patil et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2020.145214
- A simple physical model for glacial cycles S. Pérez-Montero et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-915-2025
- Toward generalized Milankovitch theory (GMT) A. Ganopolski https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-151-2024
- Sensitivity of simulations of Plio–Pleistocene climate with the CLIMBER-2 Earth System Model to details of the global carbon cycle J. Carrillo et al. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2427236122
- Anti‐Phased Miocene Ice Volume and CO2 Changes by Transient Antarctic Ice Sheet Variability L. Stap et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020PA003971
- Nonlinear climate dynamics: From deterministic behaviour to stochastic excitability and chaos D. Alexandrov et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2020.11.002
- Do phenomenological dynamical paleoclimate models have physical similarity with Nature? Seemingly, not all of them do M. Verbitsky & M. Crucifix https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1793-2023
- A Theory of Orbital-Forced Glacial Cycles: Resolving Pleistocene Puzzles H. Ou https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11030564
- Orbital insolation variations, intrinsic climate variability, and Quaternary glaciations K. Riechers et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-863-2022
- The Mid-Pleistocene Transition: a delayed response to an increasing positive feedback? J. Shackleton et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06544-2
- Milankovitch theory “as an initial value problem”: Implications of the long memory of ice advection M. Verbitsky & D. Volobuev https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1989-2025
- Crossover and peaks in the Pleistocene climate spectrum; understanding from simple ice age models P. Ditlevsen et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-05087-3
- Coherence resonance in paleoclimatic modeling A. Bosio et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06351-9
- Russian Climate Research in 2015–2018 I. Mokhov https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433820040064
- On a New Theory of Climate Interference for Marine Isotope Stages/Substages and Glacial Terminations from Antarctica Ice-Core Records—1: Interference Model P. Viaggi https://doi.org/10.3390/quat9010012
- ESD Ideas: Propagation of high-frequency forcing to ice age dynamics M. Verbitsky et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-10-257-2019
- A gradual change is more likely to have caused the Mid-Pleistocene Transition than an abrupt event E. Legrain et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00754-0
- Synchronization phenomena observed in glacial–interglacial cycles simulated in an Earth system model of intermediate complexity T. Mitsui et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-1277-2023
- Inarticulate past: similarity properties of the ice–climate system and their implications for paleo-record attribution M. Verbitsky https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-879-2022
- Exploring the Mid-Pleistocene transition with a simple physical model S. Pérez-Montero et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-625-2026
- ESD Ideas: The Peclet number is a cornerstone of the orbital and millennial Pleistocene variability M. Verbitsky & M. Crucifix https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-63-2021
- Influence of the choice of insolation forcing on the results of a conceptual glacial cycle model G. Leloup & D. Paillard https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-547-2022
- Insolation evolution and ice volume legacies determine interglacial and glacial intensity T. Mitsui et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1983-2022
- Interglacials of the Quaternary defined by northern hemispheric land ice distribution outside of Greenland P. Köhler & R. van de Wal https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18897-5
- CO2 and summer insolation as drivers for the Mid-Pleistocene Transition M. Scherrenberg et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1061-2025
- Rapid communication: Middle Pleistocene Transition as a phenomenon of orbitally enabled sensitivity to initial values M. Verbitsky & A. Omta https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-17-2026
- Path-dependence of the Plio–Pleistocene glacial/interglacial cycles J. Carrillo et al. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322926121
- π-theorem generalization of the ice-age theory M. Verbitsky & M. Crucifix https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-281-2020
- Quantification and interpretation of the climate variability record A. von der Heydt et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103399
- Genome sequencing and comparative analysis of Ficus benghalensis and Ficus religiosa species reveal evolutionary mechanisms of longevity A. Chakraborty et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105100
- Machine learning approach reveals strong link between obliquity amplitude increase and the Mid-Brunhes transition T. Mitsui & N. Boers https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107344
- 100 kyr ice age cycles as a timescale-matching problem T. Mitsui et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1569-2025
Saved (final revised paper)
Latest update: 11 Jun 2026
Short summary
Using a dynamical climate model purely reduced from the conservation laws of ice-moving media, we show that ice-sheet physics coupled with a linear climate temperature feedback conceal enough dynamics to satisfactorily explain the system response over the full Pleistocene. There is no need, a priori, to call for a nonlinear response of, for example, the carbon cycle.
Using a dynamical climate model purely reduced from the conservation laws of ice-moving media,...
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