What year do you think that Europe is going to be taken over by an ice age?

Answer 1

2145

Answer 2

Ice ages are found frequently in the fossil record, but there's no predictable pattern. At times, the planet has been covered with ice down to the equator, while other times the planet has had no ice. The appearance and disappearance of ice ages can be detected in fossil organisms by the amount of oxygen isotopes (one isotope favors ice -- so it occurs more frequently in calcium carbonate sea shells when the ice is gone), as well as in sedimentary rock, which can show transgression and regression of ocean levels. So climate change is not new to this planet.

We're just coming out of an ice age. It peaked about 13,000 to 15,000 years ago, when northern latitude cities (eg. Seattle, USA) were buried under two miles of ice. All that ice disappeared long before the industrial revolution.

Additionally, European and US spacecraft in orbit around Mars since the late 1990s have shown a marked decrease in ice at the polar caps, so there is some evidence that this process could be partially solar related. Actually, it has to be mostly solar related, because there have been so many warming and cooling events long before human history.

However, we do have plenty of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that should keep us warm for a while. So I'd say we're safe from ice for at least the next 100 to 200 years, barring any major nuclear warfare, volcanic activity or the sudden discovery of cold fusion. But if you're really worried about a future ice age, go outside, start up your non-hybrid car, and let it idle away in your driveway!

Answer 3

I heard a major ice age occurs every 10,000 years or so. I believe we are in a mini ice age right now. But I am guessing a few hundred to a thousand years for thick ice coverage of Europe.

But I read that if global warming melts the polar ice caps it will cause massive snow falls in the north, and that will cool the earth. That could lead to an ice age. But don't expect it for a hundred years or more.

Answer 4

2012

Answer 5

it's unpredictable... but at a guess would be sparked by a volcano spewing billions of tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. That would start a cycle of a couple years of extreme cold that would freeze lakes pretty far down and spark a mini ice age. The most probable culprit is Yellowstone in the US. The largest known super-volcano on Earth... and is thought to be 60,000 years past due for an eruption.

Answer 6

Not for tens of thousands of years. The last one ended 11,000 years ago, and they come at roughly 100,000 year intervals.

There was some initial concern that global warming might disrupt ocean currents and cool Europe. The latest scientific information is that it's not enough to overcome global warming, and will simply reduce the rate of warming a little.

Answer 7

june 2009

Answer 8

Times will begin to get hard around 2030, but you will begin to feel the effects of a cooling climate by 2010, if not already, for instance, global torrential down pours are one of the symptoms of a cooling climate. .

http://www.schulphysik.de/klima/landscheidt/iceage.htm

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/comment/story.html?id=bfeddc8e-90d7-4f54-9ca7-1f56fadc7c2b

Answer 9

cool question.

2013/2014

Answer 10

AG says next week.

Answer 11

i feel its really a non issue as with global warming its going to be under water sooner..