I'm still adding dials before I play. I am convinced that oceanic currents are an independent factor, on a 10,000 year cycle, and they are intimately associated with continental aggregation. Look at this
In the short years I've been looking at it, there have been minor variations with large consequences, such as no hurricanes, more typhoons, etc. The picture is of air currents, but they have no staying power, it's the ocean heat transport that drives them. We also know the 7 year El Nino cycle, but there must be other cycles. My dial would just indicate the efficiency of heat transport from the equator to the north (south for Australians).
I am also convinced that this shuts down during ice ages. Although I have studied ice ages extensively, I can find no good ideas of what the equator was doing at the time. I suspect it was extra hot. I know it was at least tropical, and did not cool down significantly or all our warm-water critters would be dead. So, I'm really eliminating a major solar cycle. If the sun goes down, it must go up, and we're still here. :)
Update: More research shows controversy and conflicting evidence on the tropics during the ice age. The oceans remained warm, but the highlands were cold and there was no Sahara dust in South America. To me, this implies the whole Equator to Poles system stopped, which is what I expect. The recovery mechanism was that the ocean level went down 120m which probably made the equator soil and water really hot, and everything started up again. (Thank Goodness). There is also the fact of isostatic response which sinks the highlands in Canada and makes them warmer.
