Will there be another ice age?
2007-01-23 01:39:46 · 5 answers · asked by coco ♥ 3 in Environment
Will it freeze again?
2007-01-23 01:43:55 · update #1
I've had this discussion with my friends. Technically we are in the middle of an ice age and the Earth does go through periods where the ice sheets advance and retreat. Of course now we have mankinds influence aka pollution which is taking over the natural process.
However, I did see an Horizon episode where some scientists think that global warming will result in a global cooling where the extra water in the ocean system will slow down the currents and produce colder weather.
An example of this is the North Atlantic Drift of Gulf Stream as it's also known. This heats up the Sth West of the UK and it is where we have slightly longer growing seasons due to this warming of the coast which comes from the Gulf of Mexico.
Scientists believe the extra water from the melting of the ice caps will switch off the benefits of this system and result in a cooling.
I suppose if we don't act fast enough we'll have to wait and see.
2007-01-23 01:55:27 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure, theres always been warm periods and then extreme colds in the Earths history (interglacial and glacial periods!)
The North pole is melting because of CO2 and all that, but they have proved that something simmilar has happened before a few thousand years ago - there was extreme heat and then the cold - look at the Sahara, they balance each other out...
There will always be melted caps and freezing caps even after humans have left this world... (extinction by the way not flying away on space ships!!)
2007-01-23 05:03:49 · answer #2 · answered by smiley 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure. I mean why not. It has melted and refrozen more than once in the past. But these cycles take millions of years. It isn't going to melt and then freeze again in your lifetime. It isn't even going to melt completely in your lifetime.
2007-01-23 01:47:38 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The average temperature in Antarctica is 109 degrees below zero. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica#Climate It seems to me 108 below (one degree warmer) is still pretty cold and not enough to melt anything. But there are those that say it will.
I hope that helps...
2007-01-23 02:19:03 · answer #4 · answered by capnemo 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ha pal...if that melts in short order no one will bearound to know or care.
2007-01-23 02:14:35 · answer #5 · answered by J.M.C 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋