The next Ice Age

cyclopathic · Jun 2, 2011

The Next Ice Age | Global Warming | DISCOVER Magazine

And ice-choked scenes, similar to those immortalized by the 16th-century Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder, may also return to Europe. His works, including the 1565 masterpiece "Hunters in the Snow," make the now-temperate European landscapes look more like Lapland.
Such frigid settings were commonplace during a period dating roughly from 1300 to 1850 because much of North America and Europe was in the throes of a little ice age. And now there is mounting evidence that the chill could return. A growing number of scientists .. believes conditions are ripe for another prolonged cooldown, or small ice age. While no one is predicting a brutal ice sheet like the one that covered the Northern Hemisphere with glaciers about 12,000 years ago, the next cooling trend could drop average temperatures 5 degrees Fahrenheit over much of the United States and 10 degrees in the Northeast, northern Europe, and northern Asia.
....A drop of 5 to 10 degrees entails much more than simply bumping up the thermostat and carrying on. Both economically and ecologically, such quick, persistent chilling could have devastating consequences. A 2002 report titled "Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises," produced by the National Academy of Sciences, pegged the cost from agricultural losses alone at $100 billion to $250 billion...
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But first things first. Isn't the earth actually warming?
Indeed it is, says Joyce. .. he explains how such warming could actually be the surprising culprit of the next mini-ice age. The paradox is a result of the appearance over the past 30 years in the North Atlantic of huge rivers of freshwaterâ€”the equivalent of a 10-foot-thick layerâ€”mixed into the salty sea. No one is certain where the fresh torrents are coming from, but a prime suspect is melting Arctic ice, caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that traps solar energy.
The freshwater trend is major news in ocean-science circles. Bob Dickson ... has termed the drop in salinity and temperature in the Labrador Seaâ€”a body of water between northeastern Canada and Greenland that adjoins the Atlanticâ€”"arguably the largest full-depth changes observed in the modern instrumental oceanographic record."
The trend could cause a little ice age by subverting the northern penetration of Gulf Stream waters. Normally, the Gulf Stream, laden with heat soaked up in the tropics, meanders up the east coasts of the United States and Canada. As it flows northward, the stream surrenders heat to the air. Because the prevailing North Atlantic winds blow eastward, a lot of the heat wafts to Europe. That's why many scientists believe winter temperatures on the Continent are as much as 36 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than those in North America at the same latitude. Frigid Boston, for example, lies at almost precisely the same latitude as balmy Rome.....
Having given up its heat to the air, the now-cooler water becomes denser and sinks into the North Atlantic by a mile or more in a process oceanographers call thermohaline circulation. This massive column of cascading cold is the main engine powering a deepwater current called the Great Ocean Conveyor that snakes through all the world's oceans. But as the North Atlantic fills with freshwater, it grows less dense, making the waters carried northward by the Gulf Stream less able to sink. The new mass of relatively fresh water sits on top of the ocean like a big thermal blanket, threatening the thermohaline circulation. That in turn could make the Gulf Stream slow or veer southward. At some point, the whole system could simply shut down, and do so quickly. "There is increasing evidence that we are getting closer to a transition point, from which we can jump to a new state. Small changes, such as a couple of years of heavy precipitation or melting ice at high latitudes, could yield a big response," says Joyce.
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so you have it: the possibility of another Bond event soon. This time within 300 years from a previous, not the usual 1470 years apart.

mrcuiser · Jun 2, 2011

Fits pretty well with my analogy of having a cooler with ice in it. As the ice melts, it dissipates the cold in a variety of ways, which could go as far as having cooler weather in places. Will also cause more frequent and severe weather in others. When enough ice has melted and the cold dissipated, the things will really heat up.

The earth will survive, we just might not like what it turns into....

wjtracy · Jun 2, 2011

cyclopathic said: ↑

The Next Ice Age | Global Warming | DISCOVER Magazine

so you have it: the possibility of another Bond event soon. This time within 300 years from a previous, not the usual 1470 years apart.
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That would be good long term to have some shift in Earth axis or other event to reverse global temperature rise. Then we could say Mankind was thinking ahead, putting all the CO2 up there to keep us warmer. That's one possible "out" of this CO2 jam, assuming we are in a CO2 jam. But we did roll the dice.

spiderman · Jun 2, 2011

Great. I was just starting to enjoy the warmer weather up here.

twittel · Jun 2, 2011

Hmmm....I need a temperature change. Our central Carolina temps have been 90+ for near 10 days; dreadful

tripp · Jun 2, 2011

Why anyone would stay in the SE is beyond me. I did my 18 years and got the hell out. It was enough to drive me to Minnesota for four years.

Rybold · Jun 7, 2011

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
I do remember learning about how ice ages and warming periods occur as a result of oceanic thermal circulation.

I suppose a global cooling event would contribute to renewed glaciation though. I hope the Alaska Wildlife Refuge oil drilling equipment is frozen under massive glaciers.

twittel · Jun 7, 2011

Rybold said: ↑

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
I do remember learning about how ice ages and warming periods occur as a result of oceanic thermal circulation.

I suppose a global cooling event would contribute to renewed glaciation though. I hope the Alaska Wildlife Refuge oil drilling equipment is frozen under massive glaciers.
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Speaking of massive glaciers, a cavernous doomsday warehouse hundreds of feet under the ice houses seeds of the world in case of a cataclysmic event. Sort of like an emergency fire alarm...last person standing is to "break glass and open. Hope the last person knows about this.

http://removestringfromobject.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-doomsday-seed-vault/

The next Ice Age

cyclopathic Senior Member

mrcuiser Junior Member

wjtracy Senior Member

spiderman wretched

twittel Senior Member

tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

Rybold globally warmed member

twittel Senior Member

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The next Ice Age

cyclopathic Senior Member

mrcuiser Junior Member

wjtracy Senior Member

spiderman wretched

twittel Senior Member

tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

Rybold globally warmed member

twittel Senior Member