What is the cause of the variations in the earth's heating and cooling?

Question

Read the paragraph below, and answer the questions that follow it.

The irregularity of land and water forms contributes to the variations in the earth's heating and cooling and the winds, which carry weather. Land near the ocean is warmed in winter and cooled in summer by winds from the ocean. The oceans, covering more than 70 percent of the earth's surface, heat and cool slowly. Land surfaces react quickly, absorbing and releasing heat. Warm or cold winds originating over the vast expanses of water are delayed and changed in character by mountain ranges as they blow over the land masses of the world.

Answer 1

The Earth's position in relativity to the sun causes its temperature to fluctuate.  

Answer 2

Its position in our solar system, the wind strengths, hotspots near land or ocean, volcanoes or ice flows, and much, much more