Are we headed for an Ice Age?

[FoolKiller]

Nice dialysis 👍 - but its not that i dont know how the get the information it is obvious about the scarring - i just dont have faith in their accuracy - i dont believe they can just turn around and say "oh well the next ice age should last around 100k years" it just doesnt make sense.

And how can the tell this is a regular occurence - i just dont believe that the facts or should i say scarring can be carried back long enough to show this - i mean they are talking about every 100,000 years - with a rest period of 15,000 years to me its just not possible!

When you can have dinosaur fossils that range in age from hundreds of millions of years to 60 million years old I have no problem believeing that they can find at least a couple of ice age cycles worth of scarring at different levels in rock formations.

But I do agree with you that their estimations could be so far off that it might not have any bearing on us whatsoever. Of course, if it did, what can we do? If it does happen I doubt we could ever heat the Earth enough to stop it from happening. I am far enough south for it to not make life unbearable where I am, just cold.

But in the case of the perfectly frozen and preserved wooly mammoth and caveman it does make you wonder if it could happen tomorrow without any warning.

However I hold as much faith in scientists predicting the start of the next ice age as I do in scientists telling me when the next major earthquake near me is going to happen.

 

[barryl85]

But in the case of the perfectly frozen and preserved wooly mammoth and caveman it does make you wonder if it could happen tomorrow without any warning.

However I hold as much faith in scientists predicting the start of the next ice age as I do in scientists telling me when the next major earthquake near me is going to happen.

I do agree with you there - that anything can happen, and as time goes on the scientists are getting smarter and i do trust their judgement i just like to know facts then i will fully trust their judgement! 👍

 

[Danoff]

Thanks sukerkin i will have a look - its not that i do not believe all this is true - it just takes alot for me to believe something is true like this! and i like to look at facts about how someone can predict something of this scale

Not being cheeky but its Barry L i just didnt use capitals! 👍

Go study it for 2 years and you'll be convinced like the scientists are.

Don't call something B.S. just because you don't understand it - take some time and research it. Getting on here and posting that its stupid because you can't figure out how they would know that isn't going to help you understand it. Go look it up! Then come back and report what you find.

By the way, since when was 10-15k years accurate?

 

[barryl85]

Go study it for 2 years and you'll be convinced like the scientists are.

Don't call something B.S. just because you don't understand it - take some time and research it. Getting on here and posting that its stupid because you can't figure out how they would know that isn't going to help you understand it. Go look it up! Then come back and report what you find.

By the way, since when was 10-15k years accurate?

Who said it was accurate?

Ok maybe I shouldn't have said it was B.S. but it is my opinion.

 

[Danoff]

Ok maybe I shouldn't have said it was B.S. but it is my opinion.

That doesn't make it a founded one - or a good one. I'm commenting on the quality of your opinion.

 

[barryl85]

That doesn't make it a founded one - or a good one. I'm commenting on the quality of your opinion.

Ok im no scientist - i have no knowledge of this! it was solely my opinion, how can you judge the quality of someones opinion when the facts of this cannot be made certain until it is actually happening?

So heres a question if you could help, What causes ice age?

To me it would be something to do with the earth moving further away from the sun - it would have to be! whats your opinion or whats someone elses fact on this?

If the earth does not move further from the sun how could we see the earth iceing up?

 

[Danoff]

Ok im no scientist - i have no knowledge of this! it was solely my opinion, how can you judge the quality of someones opinion when the facts of this cannot be made certain until it is actually happening?

So heres a question if you could help, What causes ice age?

To me it would be something to do with the earth moving further away from the sun - it would have to be! whats your opinion or whats someone elses fact on this?

If the earth does not move further from the sun how could we see the earth iceing up?

Google - "what causes ice ages?"

Answer

"What causes ice-ages?

Fluctuations in the amount of insolation (incoming solar radiation) are the most likely cause of large-scale changes in Earth's climate during the Quaternary. In other words, variations in the intensity and timing of heat from the sun are the most likely cause of the glacial/interglacial cycles. This solar variable was neatly described by the Serbian scientist, Milutin Milankovitch, in 1938. There are three major components of the Earth's orbit about the sun that contribute to changes in our climate. First, the Earth's spin on its axis is wobbly, much like a spinning top that starts to wobble after it slows down. This wobble amounts to a variation of up to 23.5 degrees to either side of the axis. The amount of tilt in the Earth's rotation affects the amount of sunlight striking the different parts of the globe. The greater the tilt, the stronger the difference in seasons (i.e., more tilt equals sharper differences between summer and winter temperatures). The range of motion in the tilt (from left-of-center to right-of-center and back again) takes place over a period of 41,000 years. As a result of a wobble in the Earth's spin, the position of the Earth on its elliptical path changes, relative to the time of year. This phenomenon is called the precession of equinoxes. The cycle of equinox precession takes 23,000 years to complete. In the growth of continental ice sheets, summer temperatures are probably more important than winter.

How does the ice build up?

Throughout the Quaternary period, high latitude winters have been cold enough to allow snow to accumulate. It is when the summers are cold, (i.e., summers that occur when the sun is at its farthest point in Earth's orbit), that the snows of previous winters do not melt completely. When this process continues for centuries, ice sheets begin to form. Finally, the shape of Earth's orbit also changes. At one extreme, the orbit is more circular, so that each season receives about the same amount of insolation. At the other extreme, the orbital ellipse is stretched longer, exaggerating the differences between seasons. The eccentricity of Earth's orbit also proceeds through a long cycle, which takes 100,000 years. Major glacial events in the Quaternary have coincided when the phases of axial tilt, precession of equinoxes and eccentricity of orbit are all lined up to give the northern hemisphere the least amount of summer insolation.

What makes the ice melt when the glaciation is over?

Major interglacial periods have occurred when the three factors line up to give the northern hemisphere the greatest amount of summer insolation. The last major convergence of factors giving us maximum summer warmth occurred 11,000 years ago, at the transition between the last glaciation and the current interglacial, the Holocene. During the late Pleistocene, the Rocky Mountain regions of Canada and the regions farther west were almost engulfed in the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, while most of Canada east of the Rockies and the north-central and northeastern United States were covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The divide between the two ice sheets lay east of the Rockies, with the two ice bodies meeting near the U.S.-Canadian border in eastern Montana. The Laurentide ice sheet is thought to have been as much as two miles thick at the center."

http://culter.colorado.edu/~saelias/glacier.html


The shape of the Earth's orbit evolves over time. Specifically - the eccentricity (or ellipticalness) decreases and increases over time causing the seasons to vary. It's all right there.

 

[sukerkin]

Not being cheeky but its Barry L i just didnt use capitals! 👍

:very deep blush:

Sorry my friend, I typed that in a rush (at work as ever) and obviously the chap in the 'Jobswurth' hat who drives my subconscious slipped me the wrong letters .

 

[barryl85]

:very deep blush:

Sorry my friend, I typed that in a rush (at work as ever) and obviously the chap in the 'Jobswurth' hat who drives my subconscious slipped me the wrong letters .

Ah its ok!

and to Danoff;

I understand now, i thought it must have been something to do with the earths orbit, but i was unsure what! 👍