Where can I find scientific evidence of a potential ice age?

Question

I've been hearing some people theorize that the world naturally will undergo an ice age because of global warming. Where is the evidence that supports this? I'm also curious to see how many people believe that its global warming and the ice age is part of the natural cycle of the earth? And can some one send me a link where is states that humans is in fact a small contributor to global warming...(I don't see how this is true)..thanks.

yes, i realize that we won't be here...But I'm worried about the future of man kind (our children, grandchildren etc..)

Answer 1

How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age...
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0130-11.htm
"In quick summary, if enough cold, fresh water coming from the melting polar ice caps and the melting glaciers of Greenland flows into the northern Atlantic, it will shut down the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe and northeastern North America warm. The worst-case scenario would be a full-blown return of the last ice age - in a period as short as 2 to 3 years from its onset - and the mid-case scenario would be a period like the "little ice age" of a few centuries ago that disrupted worldwide weather patterns leading to extremely harsh winters, droughts, worldwide desertification, crop failures, and wars around the world."

Global Warming: A Chilling Perspective
http://www.clearlight.com/~mhieb/WVFossils/ice_ages.html
"Global warming started long before the "Industrial Revolution" and the invention of the internal combustion engine. Global warming began 18,000 years ago as the earth started warming its way out of the Pleistocene Ice Age-- a time when much of North America, Europe, and Asia lay buried beneath great sheets of glacial ice.

Earth's climate and the biosphere have been in constant flux, dominated by ice ages and glaciers for the past several million years. We are currently enjoying a temporary reprieve from the deep freeze.

Approximately every 100,000 years Earth's climate warms up temporarily. These warm periods, called interglacial periods, appear to last approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years before regressing back to a cold ice age climate. At year 18,000 and counting our current interglacial vacation from the Ice Age is much nearer its end than its beginning."

Various articles on Global Warming and the potential for an iceage:
http://www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/viewTopic.do?o=read&id=501

Also look into Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth".

As for my personal opinion, I don't know enough about it to be able to say what I think for sure, much less which stance is the right one. Whether we as humans have contributed to global warming or not, I don't see anything wrong with trying to limit our use of natural resources and reduce pollution.

Answer 2

No one can predict the future with certainty. Predictions about future climate change are based on the assumption that the world functions the same today as it did in the past, when cyclic changes in global temperature occured. The reasons for those past changes are not known, but there is plenty of evidence that changes occurred. The past evidence consists of climatic records that date back around 700 years, fossil evidence, pollen from ice cores and lake sediments, and geological evidence.

There is no evidence for a future ice age, other than than the cycles that occurred in the past, but there is also no evidence that the world functions differently today than in the past, so future changes seem likely.

Answer 3

Well, we're actually living in an ice age that started 4 millions years ago. we're at at interglacial, that is between 2 periods where glaciers make progess.

The evidence for that are mostly found when you dig ice in Antartica or on top of mountains.

"Since today's Earth has a continent over the South Pole and an almost land-locked ocean over the North Pole, geologists believe that Earth is likely to experience further glacial periods in the geologically near future. Estimates of the timing vary widely, from 2,000 to 50,000 years depending on other factors."

Anyways, for further reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age

Answer 4

Well, its happened before, and it will happen again, with no help from mankind. Its part a cycle that no one completely understands. Things that influence ice ages are numerous, variances in earth's magnetic field, solar output, volcanic activity, asteroid strikes, and on and on. FYI, mans yearly contribution to CO2 is about 9 billion tons, natural sources are about 190 billion tons, so about 5%.

Answer 5

try looking for research stations on the Ross Ice shelf, then see if you can find links to them. They are the cutting edge of it. And I agree, it is coming and hopefully we, as a species, will survive it. Feel free to contact me if you wish to talk about it more.

Answer 6

"The Nuclear Winter", by Carl Sagan and Richard Turco points at what may possibly cause anotehr ice age.

Answer 7

We wont be here, so dont worry.