The Irkutsk Research Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences has hosted a special session on the subject of "Climate of the Earth: Past, Present and Future". Taking part in the discussions were geologists, limnologists, astrophysicists, paleographers and biologists. Ajoint report on the causes of natural anomalies was presented by Deputy Director of the Institute of Earth Crust of the RAS Siberian Branch, Kirill Levi, Dr. Sc. (Geol., Mineralogy), Director of the Astronomical Observatory of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the RAS Siberian Branch, S. Yazev, Cand. Sc. (Phys. & Math.) and Dr. Zadonina of the Irkutsk State University. The history of our planet tells us about several glaciation epochs. The authors of the report on this subject point out that they occurred at average intervals of some 130 - 150 mn years and were produced by some obviously cosmic causes. One of the versions speaks of increased levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere in step with growing levels of solar activity over the past several millennia. Some of the publications speak of a marked influence on the processes in nature and climate of changes in intensity of our geomagnetic field-this natural shield which protects the biosphere from hard galactic radiation. When solar activity drops, this factor, probably, increases, causing a global warming. But no convincing proofs of the above have so far been obtained. The current warming, which began more than 4 mn years ago, has been "interrupted" by periods of much milder climate. In the 1920s Yugoslav geophysicist, M. Milankovich, suggested a mathematical hypothesis suggesting that variations of that kind are caused by changes of the main orbital parameters of the Earth and the accompanying "ups" and "downs" in the flux of solar radiation. And his calculations for the past 500 years more or less "match" the reality. Although the question remains of why there were glaciation epochs in the distant past, especially bea ... Read more