Are we near an ice age?

Answer 1

No, we are not near an ice age, we are STILL in an ice age. See attached links.

Answer 2

There's ice ages and there's 'mini ice ages', sometimes the two get confused.

'Ice Age' is used to describe the periods of time when there is ice on the planet and in this respect we've been in an ice age for a little over 50 million years. These ice age cycles occur approx every 120 million years. Some time soon, like within the next 0 to 20 million years, the planet is going to start coming out of the ice age. In roughly 70 million years from now there'll be no ice at all.

Within these eons of time there are much shorter cycles when the glaciers retreat and advance and often these are (incorrectly) referred to as ice ages. In this respect the last 'ice age' ended a little over 10,000 years ago. For the last few million years these mini ice ages have been becoming more extreme with greater temperature variation. The period between one mini ice age and the next is around 120,000 years (it varies). Under normal circumstances the current global temp is at about it's short term maximum and we would expect the onset of another mini ice age soon (that's a geological soon, as in thousands of years).

What's happened recently is that we've created a situation which has thrown the atmopshere outside of it's natural tolerances and in it's current state the onset of the next mini ice age is becoming more and more unlikely.

As has been mentioned, one possible consequence of climate change is an effect on thermohaline circulation (meridian overturning circulation), these are the ocean currents that encircle the planet. This is something that isn't clearly understood and even harder to predict. One part of the thermohaline circulation which may be vulnetarble is the North Atlantic Conveyor (or Gulf Stream). This current transports warm waters from the Carribean to the northwestern shores of Europe, the result being that countries receiving the Gulf Stream are considerable warmer than they would otherwise be (London for example is on about the same latitude as New York and Moscow but has a more moderate climate).

As global termperatures rise there is an increase in the melting of the polar ice caps and surrounding regions, most notably the Arctic Ice Cap. This cold, fresh water runs off into the sea and if there's enough then it could affect the Gulf Stream. No-one can really say how it will be affected or even if it will. Possibilities are that it would be diverted elsewhere, be truncated or 'turned off' completely. If any of these happen then the warm water it carries will be distributed elsewhere causing those countries that benefit from it's warm waters to cool down.

The cooling in some places, namely the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland, would be as much as 10°C, there would be considerable cooling in the rest of the UK and Iceland, much of Norway and some cooling in the rest of Norway, Greenland and parts of Finland and Sweden. This would lead to an advancement of glaciers and the return of permenant and semi-permanent glaciers and ice-fields to regions that have been ice free for thousands of years.

Shoud such an event occur it would be a slow and gradual process with the glaciers advancing a few hundred metres per year.

Answer 3

It's one theory. The proponents believe that the thermohaline conveyor, which keeps northwestern Europe warm, will shut down soon as melting glaciers put freshwater into the ocean current system. Once the conveyor shuts down, we may experience a sharp drop in temperature as happened during the "little ice age."

In a report for the pentagon, Randall and Schwartz outline what may happen during a new "little ice age." You can find it easily with a google search. You may also want to read "The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History" by Brian Fagan. There is also a documentary on this subject that airs regularly on the History Channel.

Answer 4

We need to start acting sanely. That is more than enough. All this clueless thinking will lead us more to nowhere theories than to somewhere theories.

Ice age need not be imagined in a more violent all-over-the-globe ice age. My knowledge from watching the weather reports for about 2 or 3 years gives me a clear indication that amount of snow fall has increased in many places. It has even violated the seasons and has gone off-season at couple of places.

In the absence of scientific theories backing up global climatic changes, people would have thought of such things as some kind of wonders happening in their place. Either would have associated these to some pseudo-religious beliefs or to nature's wonder phenomenon getting recorded in guiness kind of record books. Even the so called skeptics, rationalists, and materialists would have ended up calling it as some kind of natural phenomenon, and not as due to increased damaging-human-activity.

Answer 5

Well technically we are still in an ice age yet, not one liberal will tell you that, and no its not a theory either that we are in an ice age. But are we close to going in that direction again, I don' think anybody really knows when, it just depends on when the Earth gets done with its heating cycle and starts to freeze again. So until that time I'm still waiting for this ice age to be over with :)...................

Answer 6

We are just at the end of a drought so I don't think an ice age is going to come just yet.

Answer 7

Under other circumstances, possibly. Under current circumstances, no chance. It's being promoted as part of the coverup by the dupes of the government. They believe government is always right, but I don't. I work for them.

Answer 8

No. The next one, that is expected due to natural causes, is estimated to occur in 30.000 years. There is a slight chance, according to climate models, that the disruption of the thermohaline current (including the gulf current, among others) will cause a new ice age.

Answer 9

I hope not. Now that would be bad for mankind. It would cause us to use more fossil fuels to keep warm. And that would make global warming even worse.

Answer 10

We are still in one.