Scientists Just Discovered That Humans Accidentally Prevented Another Ice Age
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Earth went through its famous Ice Age, the one adapted into those beloved animated films that captured the era's kid-friendly hijinks. But what you didn't know is that we almost had a sequel to the Ice Age. 2,000 years ago, according to new research published in Science, we were set to begin a brand-new era of cold, but then humanity's industrialization kicked into high gear and called it all off.
Evidence of this aborted Ice Age was found atop Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic at the Barnes Ice, a remnant of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Barnes is frozen solid down to its bedrock, which preserved a lot of the ancient moss that was killed when the ice expanded, creating a well-preserved timeline.
Columbia University paleoclimatologist Nicolas Young and his team carbon-dated these old mosses and examined the buildup of a form of beryllium on rocks to get a sense of when it was exposed to cosmic rays and the atmosphere. They found that the Laurentide reached its smallest footprint roughly 3600 years ago before expanding yet again about 2000 years ago. Less solar radiation in the high northern latitudes overpowered atmospheric carbon dioxide, and with that, the Earth's next ice age was in motion.
And then the 1960s happened. Industrial greenhouse gas emissions got so intense that we effectively killed that oncoming ice age dead in its tracks. The ice cap's mass started dwindling, and summer melts started outpacing winter snows. Some people might hear that and breathe a sigh of relief, and maybe be a little thankful for industrialization for saving us from a the day after tomorrow style scenario.
But scientists say that messing with a cycle that was millions of years old could end up having some nasty ramifications way down the line.
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Interesting. I wonder what other crises humanity has accidentally avoided.
no biggie, a bit of nuclear winter ought to fix that shit ...
don't give anybody ideas
That is another example of scientific assumptions. The little ice age was, as scientists discovered, caused by a massive volcanic eruption spewing fine silicate ash into the upper atmosphere reflecting the incoming solar radiation. A nuclear war, however, will produce smoke, soot, and ash from combustion which isn't very reflective and tends to hold heat through the nights. We have already had examples of this, a few years ago when the west was on fire and here in Michigan we had smoke most of the fall and we didn't have our first frost/freeze until the first of November about four to five weeks later than normal.
Or what crisis we might inadvertently start.
All of these things, the crisis we might create and the supposed ice age we might have avoided, aren't of any concern to the universe or this planet. It will continue doing what it's doing either way. The creatures, viruses and sacks of water with bioelectrical brains telling them what they want to hear and that they're important may slow down or speed up planet cycles, but ultimately, the planet doesn't give a shit. Only the bioelectrical sacks of water care about whether it will continue to be a comfortable enough environment for their offspring. So, it's not like we did the planet any favors by possibly averting an ice age.
"The universe is basically an animal. It feeds on the ordinary. It creates infinite idiots just to eat them." --- Rick Sanchez, Rick & Morty
IMO the big crisis to avoid now is in the opposite direction.
If you mean the warming causing the sea levels to rise flooding the coasts worldwide, that is inevitable, we can't stop it because we aren't causing it.
I thought that one of the main reasons for the rising oceans is because of the melting of the glaciers and polar ice, caused by the warming climate.
So... We can stop an ice age but not warm the Earth? That just doesn't make sense.
I guess you are new to this concept, I'm actually saying that we CAN NOT stop the next ice age because it is part of the water cycle of this planet and the sea levels need to increase another 25 feet before the condition is met for enough heat and moisture infiltrating the colder latitudes that the winter snows will accumulate more than what the summers can melt starting the next ice age.
Yep the melting glaciers and ice sheets are what causes the sea level rise and eventually the next ice age.
Receding glaciers and ice sheets have been happening since the last ice age causing the sea levels to rise some 100 feet so far, but before every ice age the sea levels were up to 25 feet higher than they are now.
Yeah... California isn't going to break away from earthquake, it's just going to slide into the ocean from seasonal rains...
If it's a major earthquake it's more like we could have an inland sea created but we won't fall into the ocean.
I'd be more worried about mudslides and flooding right now. It's going to be a wet winter season out there.
Yeah, tectonicly speaking, California is rising up out of the ocean. The question is if it will rise up faster than it erodes back.
We won't be seeing an ice age until the sea levels rise to about 25 feet higher than they are now. The next ice age hasn't been averted because the water cycle hasn't reached this one requirement yet.
It does seem a little dubious to claim that our current manmade environmental problems are staving off a long term natural disaster that can end human civilization. Next thing you know religionists will claim that god gave us sources for greenhouse gasses just to save us, and we should therefore drill baby drill and burn anything that will burn.