Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-03-10

sun during our northern winter
lis 9O.S47. $50 miles. Suppose now
! that, from the procession OF the
eQuinoxcs. winter in our northern
hcnispheres should happen when
the earth is in the aphelion OF its
orbit at time when the orbit
is at its greatest eCCcntriCity :;
the earth would then be %.I50.420
miles farther from sun in winter
! than it is at present. The direct
! heat of the sun would, therefore,
during winter be one-tifth less
and during summer onc-iIlth
greater than now. This differ
than now. This enormous differ
oncc would necessarily affect the
climate to a very great extent.
! Were the winters under these
circumstances to occur when the
earth is in the perihclion OF its
orbit. it would then be 143OS,2O0
miles nearer the sun in winter
| than in summer. In this case the
| difference between winter and
summer in our latitude would be
| almost annihilated. But as the
winters on one hemisphere cor
respond with the summers on the
other. it follows that while one
hemisphere is enduring the great
L est extremes OF summer heat and
winter cold. the other is cniOVinc-
perpetual summer.
According to astronomers the
earth passed the apheliOn OF its
orbit when that orbit was at It's
greatest eccentricity between ten
and twelve thousand years ago.
and we are now reCeding from
the glacial period or great ice.
age. In other words. we have
passed the Great Winter and are
now approaching the Great Sum
mer. and our annual winters are
growing shorter and milder. and
our annual summers longer and
also milder. because we are grad
ually getting farther from the
ter. But it must be understood
that there are continual f1uctua-
tons and the change. as 4 whole.
is as slow as to be scarcely no.
ticeable in. an ordinary lifetime
or even in a century.
Prior to the last glacial period
as the earth SLOWLY approached
the apllelion of its orbit, when the
orbit was at its greatest eccentri-
city. the winter gradually grew
longer and colder, while the sum
mers became shorter but. strange
as it may appear. not hotter. Dur
ing the long winters-more than
a month longer than our present
winters, the ground was covered
deeply with snow and all inland
bodies of water were frozen solid
While the oceans were flied with
! 1oating ice. At approach of sum
mer. the presence of such an &C
emulation OF snow and ice low
cred the temperature and pre-
vented its melting This was
brought about in three ways, viz:
First, by means OF direct radia
ton. No matter what the inten-
sity of the suns rays may be. the
temperature Of snow and ice can
never be above 81 degrees.
Second, the. rays of the sun fall
ing upon snow and ice are, to a
great extent reflected back into
space Those that are not re-
f1ected back into space, but
absorbed, do not raise the
temperature, for they disap-
pear in the mechanical process of
melting the ice. For whatsoever
| may be the intensity of-the suns
heat, the surface ground will be
kept at 81 degrees so long as the
snow and ice remain unmelted.
Third, snow and ice lower the
temperature by chilling the air
and condensing the vapor into
thick fogs. The great strength
tof the suns rays during the short
lsumner, due to his nearness,
lwould tend to produce an increas-,
~ {