We are in the grip of autumn and it is getting colder. Are we heading towards an ice age, one reader wonders.
The fleeting Danish summer is over. The leaves are falling from the trees, the birds are flying south, it is getting darker and, of course, colder too.
Our reader Lars Petersen from Copenhagen has started preparing for the cold days. And he wants to know how seriously he needs to prepare.
"When does the next one start? ice age? I learned that glacial and interglacial periods follow each other regularly. Since we are living in an interglacial period, it is logical to assume that the next ice age is ahead of us, isn’t it?” - he writes in a letter to the section “Ask Science” (Spørg Videnskaben).
We at the editorial office shudder at the thought of the cold winter that awaits us at the end of autumn. We, too, would love to know if we are on the verge of an ice age.
The next ice age is still a long way off
Therefore, we addressed Sune Olander Rasmussen, a lecturer at the Center for Fundamental Research on Ice and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.
Sune Rasmussen studies cold and obtains information about past weather by storming Greenland glaciers and icebergs. In addition, he can use his knowledge to act as an "ice age predictor."
“In order for an ice age to occur, several conditions must coincide. We cannot predict exactly when the ice age will begin, but even if humanity had no further influence on the climate, our forecast is that the conditions for it will develop in 40 to 50 thousand years at best,” Sune Rasmussen reassures us.
Since we're talking to an "ice age predictor" anyway, we might as well get some more information about what kind of "conditions" we're talking about to help us understand a little more about what an ice age actually is.
This is what an ice age is
Sune Rasmussen says that during the last ice age the average temperature on earth was several degrees lower than today, and that the climate at higher latitudes was colder.
Much of the northern hemisphere was covered in massive ice sheets. For example, Scandinavia, Canada and some other parts North America were covered with a three-kilometer ice shell.
The enormous weight of the ice sheet pressed the earth's crust a kilometer into the Earth.
Ice ages are longer than interglacials
However, 19 thousand years ago changes in climate began to occur.
In Greenland, the last vestiges of the shell came off very abruptly 11,700 years ago, or 11,715 years ago to be exact. This is evidenced by research by Sune Rasmussen and his colleagues.
This means that 11,715 years have passed since the last ice age, and this is a completely normal length of an interglacial.
“It's funny that we usually think of the Ice Age as an 'event', when in fact it's just the opposite. The average ice age lasts 100 thousand years, while the interglacial lasts from 10 to 30 thousand years. That is, the Earth is more often in an ice age than vice versa.”
“The last couple of interglacial periods only lasted about 10,000 years, which explains the widespread but erroneous belief that our current interglacial period is coming to an end,” says Sune Rasmussen.
Three factors influence the possibility of an ice age
The fact that the Earth will plunge into a new ice age in 40-50 thousand years depends on the fact that there are slight variations in the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The variations determine how much sunlight reaches which latitudes, thereby influencing how warm or cold it is.
Milankovitch cycles are:
1. The Earth’s orbit around the Sun, which changes cyclically approximately once every 100,000 years. The orbit changes from almost circular to more elliptical, and then back again. Because of this, the distance to the Sun changes. The further the Earth is from the Sun, the less solar radiation our planet receives. In addition, when the shape of the orbit changes, the length of the seasons also changes.
2.The tilt of the earth's axis, which varies between 22 and 24.5 degrees relative to the orbit around the Sun. This cycle spans approximately 41,000 years. 22 or 24.5 degrees does not seem to be such a significant difference, but the tilt of the axis greatly affects the severity of the different seasons. The more the Earth is tilted, the greater the difference between winter and summer. The Earth's axial tilt is currently 23.5 and decreasing, meaning the differences between winter and summer will decrease over the next thousands of years.
3. The direction of the earth's axis relative to space. The direction changes cyclically with a period of 26 thousand years.
“The combination of these three factors determines whether there are prerequisites for the onset of an ice age. It is almost impossible to imagine how these three factors interact, but using mathematical models we can calculate how much solar radiation certain latitudes receive at certain times of the year, have received in the past and will receive in the future,” says Sune Rasmussen.
Snow in summer leads to ice age
In particular important role Summer temperatures play a role in this context.
Milanković realized that for there to be a prerequisite for the onset of an ice age, summers in the northern hemisphere must be cold.
If winters are snowy and much of the northern hemisphere is covered in snow, then temperatures and the number of hours of sunshine in the summer determine whether snow is allowed to remain throughout the summer.
“If the snow does not melt in the summer, then little sunlight penetrates into the Earth. The rest is reflected back into space by a snow-white blanket. This exacerbates the cooling that began due to a change in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun,” says Sune Rasmussen.
“Further cooling brings more snow, which further reduces the amount of heat absorbed, and so on, until the ice age begins,” he continues.
Likewise, a period of hot summers causes the Ice Age to end. Then the hot sun melts the ice enough so that sunlight can once again hit dark surfaces like soil or sea, which absorb it and warm the Earth.
People are delaying the next ice age
Another factor that matters for the possibility of an ice age is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Just as snow reflecting light enhances ice formation or speeds up its melting, a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from 180 ppm to 280 ppm (parts per million) helped bring the Earth out of the last ice age.
However, since industrialization began, people have been constantly increasing the proportion of carbon dioxide, so that now it is almost 400 ppm.
“It took nature 7,000 years to raise the share of carbon dioxide by 100 ppm after the end of the Ice Age. Humans managed to do the same thing in just 150 years. This has major implications for whether the Earth could enter a new ice age. This is a very significant influence, which not only means that an ice age cannot begin at the moment,” says Sune Rasmussen.
We thank Lars Petersen for the good question and send a winter gray T-shirt to Copenhagen. We also thank Sune Rasmussen for his good answer.
We also encourage our readers to send more scientific questions to [email protected].
Did you know?
Scientists always talk about an ice age only in the northern hemisphere of the planet. The reason is that there is too little land in the southern hemisphere to support massive layers of snow and ice.
Excluding Antarctica, the entire southern part of the southern hemisphere is covered with water, which does not provide good conditions for the formation of a thick ice shell.
In addition to movies and TV series, entertainment shows are in great demand among viewers. Statistics show that people like to watch the development of talent in ordinary people. Shows with children bring in huge profits. It's worth checking out one of the most popular shows Ice Age kids season 3 to watch all episodes online. The exact release date is still unknown.
Ice age. Children season 3: show rules
The most attractive sport is figure skating. This is a wonderful combination of grace and musical accompaniment allows you to collect large number views. This is a real dream for most children, because figure skaters are not only beautiful people, but also very successful. When an athlete performs a complex trick, it seems to a person that mastering such skill is a simple matter. But as practice shows, not everyone is given the opportunity to engage in this sport. The most that most people can do is skate on the ice.
A still from the show “Ice Age. Children"
Children figure skaters face much greater difficulties. They have special requirements. They are with early childhood learn techniques for jumping and attracting attention to their person. The creators of such shows believe that they can compete with adults and quickly found the first group of participants.
Children will be trained professional athletes who achieved success at the Olympics. Each of them will be joined by one group of beginner skaters.
A still from the show “Ice Age. Children" Participants of the program
- Alexey Yagudin- the main presenter of the entire program. An Olympic medalist, he was remembered by most TV viewers thanks to his talent as a presenter and charisma.
- Alla Mikheeva— an employee of Channel One, took part in many broadcasts. Famous journalist.
- Evgenia Medvedeva— hosted the second season of the program, winner Olympic Games. Beautiful girl with a gentle character, able to find a common language with any children.
The jury consists of:
- Tatiana Navka, Maxim Trankov, Roman Kostomarov And Averbukh Ilya.
- Tatiana Tarasova- famous athlete of the Soviet national team figure skating. Regular presenter of many sports programs.
What happened in previous seasons
Anyone can become a participant in the project, just go through the casting. After this, the jury team will assign all children to teams and assign them to a mentor. Then the struggle for supremacy begins.
Not everything was smooth sailing and there were a lot of rumors surrounding the show. Critics believed that many project participants were discriminated against, because couples always received more points than singles. However, all guesses were destroyed, because the creators of the show denied the accusations.
Ice age. Kids season 3: release date
- Broadcast on Channel One on Sundays.
- The author of the unique show is Ilya Averbukh. According to the skater, the program will allow children interested in figure skating, develop your talent and conquer new heights at a professional level.
Trailer for the show Ice Age. Children watch online
A joint statement from various scientific organizations and academies states that The Little Ice Age is coming on Earth. In an address to the heads of the world's leading governments and the UN, scientists said: “Humanity is in danger of its continued existence.”
Here is a list of organizations that wrote this statement:
- German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina
- Indian National Science Academy
- Indonesian Academy of Sciences
- Royal Irish Academy
- Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy)
- Academy of Sciences Malaysia
- Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- Turkish Academy of Sciences
- Global Atmosphere Watch Program (GAW)
- Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
- World Climate Program (WCP)
- World Climate Research Program (WCRP)
- World Weather Research Program (WWRP)
- World Weather Watch Program (WWW)
- Commission for Agricultural Meteorology
- Commission for Atmospheric Science
- Australian Academy of Sciences
- Brazilian Academy of Sciences
- Royal Society of Canada
- Caribbean Academy of Sciences
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- French Academy of Sciences
Abrupt change in temperature in 2017.
Climate change in Antarctica and the South Pole
“Data collected from around the world indicate that a catastrophic cooling scenario will be realized in the coming years. Global cooling has already begun and all of humanity will feel its devastating consequences within 4-6 years,” the report says.
A sharp decrease in average water temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists emphasize that data collected recently indicate that intermediate water masses are cooling at a catastrophic rate.
Temperature changes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Temperature changes in Greenland.
Tracing the relationship between changes in global temperature, one can see that this is closely related to solar activity.
We see one of the strongest global climate fluctuations during the Holocene, the Little Ice Age marked by a long cooling period from the 14th to the 19th century AD. This cooling was associated with a decrease in solar activity and was especially severe during the solar minima of 1645-1715. . AD and 1790-1830 n. e. These minima of solar activity are known as the Maunder minimum and the Dalton minimum. The time for a new low has arrived.
Temperature drop in the South China Sea
“And this is just the beginning; we will be faced with an increasing number of abnormal weather events every day. There will be no place on Earth that will not be affected by these changes. All countries in the world will be affected by these changes. A new ice age begins, the entire weather system of the planet changes and collapses. All critical infrastructure for people's survival will be under attack. Hunger and cold, that’s what humanity expects in the coming years,” the scientists write.
Global changes are clearly visible from the cataclysms already occurring across the globe. recent anomalous phenomena in Russia are a very clear example of such changes. Tornadoes, tornadoes, hurricanes, snow in summer, hail, sudden drops in temperature, the whole world has seen all this. Russian meteorologists are no longer able to give a clear and intelligible explanation of the reasons why all this is happening, and no one in the whole world will be able to give these explanations.
There is an explanation and it is real - everything that is happening is just the beginning of global cooling and it will affect not only Russia, all of humanity in all countries of the world will fall under its blow.
“We call on heads of state and government around the world to take our report very seriously. We are talking about the survival of all humanity, and whether it will exist on this planet at all. This is a danger that our modern civilization has not yet encountered in its history. To all leaders. of all countries of our world, it is now necessary to prepare our countries and people for what awaits them in the very near future. Now is not the time for wars and political strife - it is time to unite in order to survive. Humanity is in danger and only by working together can we try to survive,” the report says.
All this did not start today or yesterday, but no one wanted to pay attention to the ominous signs. Alarming climate changes began back in 2013, when snow suddenly fell in Romania at the most inopportune time period, and Germany experienced the harshest winter in 200 years, abnormal cold and snowfalls occurred in the United States, and a record low temperature was set in Antarctica During the entire period of observation, frosts hit Syria and this list goes on and on.
In 2014, the situation did not improve, but became even worse. The number of weather anomalies only increased. There are so many of them that there is no point in listing them all, this is obvious.
The Gulf Stream has stopped and this is indicated by data from The Earth Wind Map and The NOAA Data Satellite. The Gulf Stream is a warm current that has become cold and such an anomaly does not bode well for us.
Some climate scientists could no longer remain silent and support false claims about global warming. For example, NASA climatologist John L. Casey publicly stated that a radical shift has occurred in the global climate and this is not an accident, not a temporary change, but a pattern that is changing our climate globally and for decades to come. He warned that if the scientific community and governments around the world do not act in the face of global cooling, there will be catastrophic consequences for humanity.
John L. Casey warned that the planet was entering a global ice age that would last at least 30 years. Massive loss of life and famine is what awaits humanity.
The Corporation for Research and Development (GCSR) is an independent research institute in Orlando, Florida, USA. It aims to warn governments, the media and people to prepare for catastrophic climate change.
Scientists collaborating with GCSR believe that global cooling will be accompanied by the activation of volcanoes and catastrophic earthquakes. Severe frosts, snowstorms, snowfalls, global anomalous cooling will last not a year or two, but 30 or 50 years.
Scientists who had the courage to go against the existing false system of “global warming” wrote articles, spoke in the media, wrote appeals to state leaders, but no one listened to them. 2017 has arrived and everyone in the world is already seeing and beginning to realize that something incomprehensible and frightening is happening with the weather on earth.
Awareness is coming, but time is lost, and if this awareness does not come to those on whom the fate of the people depends, the countries they rule will soon not exist.
