2007-04-02 10:30:53 · 6 answers · asked by vandarith v 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
We are still in an ice age, we are just not in a glacial maximum right now. Why? The main cause of any ice age is a continent over the pole.
Since Antarctica is over a pole, that land gets really cold and can't warm up very fast. Usually, there is water over the poles, and the cold water can easily circulate and regulate the planet better. Land doesn't circulate, so the cold just gets colder. So, Antarctica's occupation of the pole, starting at ~5 Ma (million years ago) has lead to our current ice age.
In the Permian (250 Ma), it was the tip of Gondwanaland (southern Africa/South America). The older glaciations are more speculative (see link).
As long as a land mass occupies a pole, we'll be in an ice age and experience cycles of glacial maxima and minima. We will stay in the pattern for about another few million years (though our greenhouse gas emissions may cancel that out). The fluctuations (maxima/minima) you get (on a ~10 000 to 100 000 year scale) within an ice age, which most mistakenly assume entails the whole ice age, is caused by climate patterns and astronomical cycles.
Once we finish this ice age (i.e. Antarctica leaves the pole), we may get one again when Australia or something else goes over the south pole or N America/Greenland/Siberia goes over the north pole.
Will we go back into a glacial maximum soon? It is possible, but global warming is raising temperatures faster than anything is cooling.
2007-04-02 10:48:48 · answer #1 · answered by QFL 24-7 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There are a number of qualified and reputable scientists who believe that 1999 marked the turning point in the current warming cycle just as the early 1940s marked the turning point in the warming cycle that occurred in the first part of the 20th century. By 1970 the same alarmists who are decrying global warming today were telling us we were about to enter an ice age.
Doing the math about thirty years had elapsed from 1940 to 1970. The GW alarmists are more shrill today than ever so I'd say in about 2035-2040 they will be warning us about the coming ice age. Whether or not it will happen then or not is anyone's guess. But, it probably will happen sooner or later.
2007-04-02 17:41:49 · answer #2 · answered by Flyboy 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The previous answer is both right and wrong. The world is cooler than it was 65 years ago. The possibility of an ice age is very real, eventually. It has nothing to do with man or fossil fuels.
2007-04-02 17:35:54 · answer #3 · answered by John S 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Not in our lifetime no. The current trend is for global warming. Maybe in a few hundred years time after the fossil fuels run out
2007-04-02 17:34:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
History says that we will.
2007-04-02 17:58:01 · answer #5 · answered by Gene 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
not in my lifetime
2007-04-02 17:46:21 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋