According to a recent research published in journal Nature Communications, the gravitational interaction between the Earth and Mars results in cyclic changes in deep ocean currents that recur every 2.4 million years. Scientists have called it an astronomical “grand cycle”.
- This is a 2.4 million-year pattern linked to an alignment between the orbits of Earth and Mars.
- Other planets can influence Earth’s path around the Sun, tugging it into a more elongated shape on regular cycles known as Milankovitch cycles that coincide with the rise and fall of ice ages. However, these are much more frequent, occurring over tens of thousands of years, and they’re created primarily by interactions with Jupiter and Saturn – far heftier planets than the relatively titchy Mars.
- The gravity fields of the planets in the Solar System interfere with each other and this interaction, called a resonance, changes planetary eccentricity, a measure of how close to circular their orbits are.
