What if the last ice age never ended?

I have been trying to do research on the ice ages.

I was trying to find any data on "what if the ice ages are still ending".

Only a few blogs are available.

It seems that not many, if any at all, studies have been made to suggest that just maybe we are still coming out of the last ice age.

Sure the weather has been nice for the last several thousand years. But in a planet age of changes and long history 10,000 years isn't nothing. Just a blink of an eye.

What if the thawing just slowed a bit and could be picking up again.

Every single link and study claims "the end of the last ice age".

What if it never ended and we are still experiencing it?

Just thinking out loud. I know people will probably come in and say "because 99.999% of the scientists and data says so". The data is only as good as the persons translating it. I am taking back to the old saying, if everybody jumped off a bridge, would you?

But it is possible it just slowed for several thousand years. Or is it?

Opinions welcome.

The data, well Google is full of pages stating the last ice age ended 10 to 12 thousand years ago.

Could "they" be wrong?

a reply to: liejunkie01

Ive wondered the same thing. More precisely, since I have two degrees in meteorology, I do feel that we're still coming out of the last ice age. Although this is more of a hydrology question, it would be interesting to know what the real water balance is for all the watersheds in North America. Data records don't go back 10,000 years though.

An ice age lasts for millions of years and technically we are still in an Ice Age.

Are we currently living in an ice age? Answered by Science Channel

Yes. An ice age is a period over tens of millions of years where the Earth is cold enough to produce permanent ice sheets. Since permanent ice sheets currently exist in Greenland and Antarctica, it qualifies the current age to be an ice age. This current ice age began 30 million years ago. Within an ice age there are warm periods referred to as "interglacial" and cold periods referred to as "glacial." We are in an interglacial period right now.

Link

Currently, we are in an interglacial period. But the Ice Age itself may last for millions of years to come.

Global Cooling: Is an Ice Age Coming?

There are signs that the Earth is entering a very unpleasant cooling period. Sunspot activity remains very low.

"The sun has been very unusual for almost 15 years now," Jens Pedersen, senior scientist at the Denmark's Technical University, said.

Pedersen said the sun recently reached solar maximum and that there should be a lot of sunspot activity, but there isn't.

"We have to go back 100 years to find a solar maximum that was as weak as the one we are in right now," he told CBN News. "And the recent solar minimum…one has to go back 200 years to find one that was as weak."

The last time the sun was this quiet, North America and Europe suffered through a weather event from the 1600s to the 1800s known as "Little Ice Age," when the Thames River in London regularly froze solid, and North America saw terrible winters. Crops failed and people starved.

We have not been around long enough to study the weather to know if the ice sheets will return or if they are gone for good. As you said, 10,000 years is but a blink of an eye.

a reply to: liejunkie01

Here's some decent reading on the subject. Milutin Milankovitch was a Serbian mathematician from the early 1900's and he decided to chart the ice ages of the Pleistocene, which was the last epoch that began 1.8 million years ago.

From the article

What causes an ice age? Will another one occur? Since it had become generally recognized by the mid-nineteenth-century that much of Europe had once been covered by a great sheet of ice, scientists have been wondering what could cause such vast shifts in the Earth’s climate. Some began looking for underlying astronomical causes. They already knew that the tilt of Earth’s axis caused seasonal change, and also that small variations in Earth’s orbit, over tens of thousands of years, affected the amount of solar energy reaching Earth. Several scientists had proposed the existence of a cycle of global winters, but none of their figures seemed accurate, and testing their reliability was difficult. Each theory was eventually shelved.

In 1911 a young Serbian mathematician, Milutin Milankovitch, decided to chart the ice ages of the Pleistocene. (The Pleistocene is the epoch that began 1.8 million years ago and ended about 11,500 years ago. It was characterized by lengthy ice ages, when glaciers covered large regions of the continents, interrupted by short interglacial periods, when the climate was temperate.) All Milankovitch’s calculations were done by hand, and he worked at them obsessively for the next thirty years. He incorporated new information about small variations in the tilt of the Earth’s axis, and factored in small orbital changes caused by the gravitational tug of other planets. Each of these orbital variations has its own time scale, and consequently they interact in different ways over time, but each one is regular. Going back 600,000 years in his computations, he carefully calculated the effect of these factors on incoming solar radiation across the Northern Hemisphere. The charts and tabulations Milankovitch created are still used today. He also measured summer solar radiation curves in high northern latitudes, where the ice age glaciers originated, linking certain low points with four previous European Pleistocene ice ages. Ultimately, the mathematician arrived at a complete astronomical theory of glaciation.

On the basis of his analysis, Milankovitch concluded that Earth’s orbit changes in three cycles of different lengths. The shape of Earth’s orbit around the Sun changes from less to more and back to less elliptical in about 96,000 years. The Earth is tilted on its axis of rotation relative to the solar plane, currently at an angle of 23.5°. This tilt changes, however, from 21.5° to 24.5° and back again in about 41,000 years. Finally, the Earth’s axis of spin wobbles with a period of 23,000 years. The challenges for Milankovitch were to understand when the three cycles were coincident with each other and how they worked together to influence insolation (the amount of solar radiation received by the Earth). Based on his computations, Milankovitch theorized variations of more than twenty percent in the amount of sunshine reaching the northern latitudes. In his 1941 account, Canon of Insolation and the Ice Age Problem, he suggested that this caused the waxing and waning of the great continental ice sheets.

Like that of several predecessors, Milankovitch’s work was greeted with considerable excitement, but was then largely dismissed. Ice ages are difficult to date, partly because each erases much of the traces of its predecessor. However, the tables were turned by the late 1960s. Technical advances made it possible for geologists to study deep-sea sediment cores that contain a climate record going back millions of years. This climate record shows remarkably regular variations, which correlate with the mathematician’s figures and which are now known as Milankovitch cycles. However, it is also clear that astronomical factors alone cannot cause the large changes that the Earth experienced. Other factors must also influence climate but scientists still do not know how.

Article

The return to a Glacial period happens with some warning. The 200 year cold spell 1600-1800 was one of those warnings. We will have another very soon.

The problem is that the warnings come with all sorts of violent and unpredictable weather changes. We are experiencing these right now. The upshot is, we are heading for a Glacial Period, we cannot stop it and we cannot survive with a population of 7 Billion.

It is my belief that the Governments know what is happening and are preparing for it.

It is the reason that Governments are becoming tyrannical.

P

You have to remember that we also have a rather unique arrangement of continents. Antarctica is located on one pole and is surrounded by cold currents, so that that there are few if any warm currents affecting it, thus locking it in. And the Arctic is almost surrounded by land, which has minimised the number of warm currents again.
That said, I know that we are in a period of climate uncertainty and that things could change in the blink of a century, the fact that glaciers are in retreat all around the world is a very bad sign.

a reply to: liejunkie01

Several time's we nearly swung back into the ice age proper such as the little ice age but in reality what we are in is actually called an interglacial period and the ice age is at least 4 million years old,. If you go back 750 million years the earth left an age that was about 1.5 billion years in length called the snow ball earth period, during this time there may have been several super ice ages during with it may have frozen right to the equator so it is not inconceivable that what you suggest may be the case, climatology is still not an exact science but we are likely to warm a lot more before any future return to the icy conditions that have regulated our planet in the past as we are adding to the warming effect, even if no were near as much as we are accused of doing so and natural volcano's are still the number one source of most green house gas after permafrost melt and sub oceanic high pressure methane decrystalization.

a reply to: liejunkie01

A think I read somewhere we are about to enter a new mini ice age within the next few centuries. As to our Ice age never ending, well our Earth does indeed move in cycles or Yugas according to Hindu cosmology. Maybe we should pay attention considering it's one of our more ancient teaching and probably contains some measure of truth.

en.wikipedia.org...

I want to thank everybody for the info and your input.

I have been pretty busy lately.

a reply to: liejunkie01

I would imagine that if a significant ice sheet formed in the lower latitudes for any reason, the albedo effect would hurry the chilling down quite quickly, what would have been temperate winds would then be arctic ones. Thence a runaway effect occurs. Where water has left the atmosphere as ice, where cold dry katabatic winds continue the ice grip. Until something like a super volcano changes the albedo, puts out greenhouse gases then the whole thing goes into reverse.

Yes, we are now in an "inter-glacial period." People might want to pay attention to the word "inter-glacial" and what it implies, then look up how long the last few "inter-glacial period" have been.

Are we on the same page yet?

OK. So I think we might possibly agree that given the population distribution today that it might be a good idea to avoid one of those glacial thingies that seem to happen with such regularity. I mean, I live in the Great Northwest and last time we had one of those glacial thingies there was a mile high sheet of ice over what is now Seattle and I'm thinking of that happens again my hearty fuschias are going to have a hard time blooming. On the other hand, no one will have to worry about climbing the peaks of the Olympic or Cascade Mountains because the glacier will be high enough so you can just walk to them and climb a very small hill.

So what do you think the best way to PREVENT this from happening might be?

I'm thinking we ought to burn a whole lot of carbon fuel and throw enough CO-2 into the atmosphere so this whole thing is prevented. I think we already have the infrastructure to do this in place, so the best thing you could do for the future of humanity is buy an SUV.

a reply to: schuyler

So what do you think the best way to PREVENT this from happening might be?

And the next one is due RIGHT ABOUT NOW!

Prevent? Us? No man, not a damn thing we can do about it. It is all about the output from our Sun, and we know diddly squat about how that particular furnace works, so, get ready, because it is a commin. Itsa goin to git real cold like.

P

originally posted by: schuyler
Yes, we are now in an "inter-glacial period." People might want to pay attention to the word "inter-glacial" and what it implies, then look up how long the last few "inter-glacial period" have been.

Are we on the same page yet?

OK. So I think we might possibly agree that given the population distribution today that it might be a good idea to avoid one of those glacial thingies that seem to happen with such regularity. I mean, I live in the Great Northwest and last time we had one of those glacial thingies there was a mile high sheet of ice over what is now Seattle and I'm thinking of that happens again my hearty fuschias are going to have a hard time blooming. On the other hand, no one will have to worry about climbing the peaks of the Olympic or Cascade Mountains because the glacier will be high enough so you can just walk to them and climb a very small hill.

So what do you think the best way to PREVENT this from happening might be?

I'm thinking we ought to burn a whole lot of carbon fuel and throw enough CO-2 into the atmosphere so this whole thing is prevented. I think we already have the infrastructure to do this in place, so the best thing you could do for the future of humanity is buy an SUV.

The earths natural state is that of an ice age.IE. most of the time the ice likes to come down to the latitude of London. I sometimes wonder as life begets life on some deeper level, the burning of the stored fossil fuels is a subconscious attempt to avert by greenhouse gasses, what would be a catastrophe for the Earth if another ice age happened.

The last ice age did not end antarctica is still in it

originally posted by: schuyler
Yes, we are now in an "inter-glacial period." People might want to pay attention to the word "inter-glacial" and what it implies, then look up how long the last few "inter-glacial period" have been.

Are we on the same page yet?

I just want to say that your demeanor is a little hard to decipher.

With that being said.

Yes I am aware of what an inter- glacial period is. Thank you for that lesson.

What I was reffering to in the op was that all we can do is compare this round of "ice age, inter-glacial, colder to warmer" spell, to the last climate changes on earth.

With that being said the earth "seems to be getting warmer" which implies the ice age is still ending. Hence the warmer it gets the more ice melts.

I am just curious as to why we, they, whomever, thinks that this time should be exactly(almost exactly) like before?

Different factors can and will lead to different results, correct? For example more or less volcanic eruptions, the suns output, "the infamous human CO2 debate, and we cannot forget continental drift.

All of these factors can and probably will give us a different set of circumstances this time around.

I know that ice covering most of the northern hemisphere would be bad for us as humans.

But if the ice ever melts all the way, other than the significant sea level rise and infrastructure toll, would it really mean death to us all as so many suggest.

The answer in my opinion is we don't really know.


People will have to relocate. We cannot expect the earth to stay the same just because we are here.

I totally wanted to avoid the whole "manmade global disaster" thing and stick to just the ice ages, but I guess as your post implies, it goes hand in hand in the cause and effect of ice ages and interglacial periods.

a reply to: thatguy777

You mean for the time being part of the continent of Antarctica is still covered with ice? That could and is changing, truth be told i'm rather interested in what we will undoubtedly uncover underneath said ice sheet.

If memory serves me correctly, based on historical temp records that I've seen, the planet has a tendency to warm up rapidly (and drastically) right before it plummets into a glacial period.

*cough*

a reply to: CranialSponge

Correct and ice cores from the greenland glacier seem to bear this up, it may have been a few degree's warmer than today at the start of the last ice age, then again what part did flora and fauna with it's natural CO2 absorption play in the sudden cooling and was it accompanied by sudden flora growth spurts in the tropic's.
I have always been fascinated though by the speed at which the mastodon's in north america and mammoths in siberia met there demise with some freezing solid apparently very quickly but do not know how true the tale of buttercups in the stomach and mouth of one of these animals is or how true the supposed find of frozen fruit tree's with there fruit still on there branches in the siberian permafrost north of the tree line is but think those fact's may have been made up to sell book's, still if they are true then the climate may be able to change very quickly indeed.

www.talkorigins.org...

Although I am happy to quote it and direct to a website I like I point our do not know how valid that data is and wonder what the origins of it are.

wattsupwiththat.com... rmer-than-today/

It is sobering to think though that Britain at the last interglacial period was african like savanna with elephant's, hippo's and lion's and this was without any noticable position change in relation to the pole.

originally posted by: pheonix358
The return to a Glacial period happens with some warning. The 200 year cold spell 1600-1800 was one of those warnings. We will have another very soon.

The problem is that the warnings come with all sorts of violent and unpredictable weather changes. We are experiencing these right now. The upshot is, we are heading for a Glacial Period, we cannot stop it and we cannot survive with a population of 7 Billion.

It is my belief that the Governments know what is happening and are preparing for it.

It is the reason that Governments are becoming tyrannical.

P

We can survive with more than half if cooperative preemptive actions are made by nations now....

More than likely, nations will withdraw into isolation as the climate crisis worsens..

At least there will be enough left to start over, when all is said and done, either way.

Most of the northern hemisphere could become uninhabitable, the impact on agriculture and livestock, along with increased demands for energy alone will destroy economies, and severely impact humanity globally...

Otherwise, everything will be peachy.

IMO

a reply to: ausername

I can agree with that.

But it is not like it would/will happen overnight.

This is a slow process and we will have time to adapt to the situation.