Temperatures in an eccentric orbit?

We see plenty of seasonal variation on Earth, due to the large axial tilt, but the Earth follows an almost perfectly circular orbit, so we don't get much variation as a result of that.

What if we had a planet with similar axial tilt, similar conditions, etc., but in an eccentric orbit? What will that do to the climate, especially in terms of temperature variance? How much hotter/colder are the extremes going to be, and how much worse will things get when the two effects (eccentricity and axial tilt) combine forces to create even nastier extremes? For bonus points, what will temperature bands look like, given that an eccentric orbit will cause a specific latitude (somewhere between the tropic lines) to be very hot at perihelion, since the sun will be directly overhead on that line at the point of closest approach?

I'm hoping for answers with formulas that explain how one could calculate this, so that other people can build on the information and tweak it to suit their worlds. For the same reason, I'll offer a few sample orbits for people to use in providing examples.

Case A: eccentricity of 0.1, perihelion at the northern summer solstice.

Case B: eccentricity of 0.1, perihelion at the vernal (northern spring) equinox.

Case C: eccentricity of 0.2, perihelion at the northern summer solstice.

For the purposes of this question, assume that Earth is the planet following an eccentric orbit; it'll make things easier to understand. Answers that express temperature variance in proportion to what Earth faces are fine: if, for instance, case A is going to have a northern winter 20% colder than Earth would, that's pretty straightforward.

posted about 8 years ago

Palarran‭

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