Understanding what takes us in and out of ice ages

[Quixote1818]

When discussing global warming I frequently hear the argument "What caused all the ice to melt that was over Chicago, it was thousands of feet thick" or something similar. The answer is the earth's tilt changes slightly over thousands of years as it wobbles like a top. We should be on a long trend back to another ice age but instead we are headed extremely quickly in the opposite direction.

Snip>>> The last major glacial thaw was 10,000 years ago, which means that the Earth is scheduled to head into another ice age. Whether human influences could reverse this, Huybers was hesitant to speculate. Other researchers have found evidence that the process of climate warming can set up conditions that create a global chill.

"What we have here is a great laboratory for seeing how climate changes naturally," he said. "But this is a 100,000-year cycle, whereas global warming is happening a thousand times faster."


http://www.livescience.com/environment/050330_earth_tilt.html

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/07.20/26-iceage.html

Just wanted to post this so people would know the answer.

Cheers!

[dem629]

1. That's great, but I'm worried about another stone age.

[Quixote1818]

2. Republicans take us back to stone ages and democrats take us out of them.

:)

[The Straight Story]

3. I thought only we could change the climate?

:rofl:

[Quixote1818]

4. If you read the articles we should be headed back into an Ice Age

But instead we are headed in the opposit direction very quickly. I will add that part in the OP.

[HeresyLives]

5. I don't recall anyone saying THAT, ever.

[timeforpeace]

8. Hubris? About global warming? Nah, get outta here.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. Considering that earth's polar north is moving significantly over t he years.

The process seems to be underway.

But human exhalations,
change the equation.

[petronius]

10. The pole that moves over the time span of years/decades is the magnetic pole

The changes that are important to long term climate are the alterations in the tilt and direction of the Earth's axis (i.e. the geographic poles) as well as the shape of the orbit...

[happyslug]

7. Lets NOT forget the "Madhouse Century" of 120,000 years ago

In that less then 100 year period, a huge increase in the world's sea level (caused probably by melting of the Wast Antarctic Ice Sheet) was followed within 100 years by a huge DROP in sea levels, as the Ice Age went into super-drive.

Previous Discussion on DU on this subject:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x8181#8189
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2072018#2072412
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x41468#41745
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x225232#225422
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x182408#182421
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x73605#73855
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4073980#4074385
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1675587#1676836
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x19573#19606

Article on the Madhouse century itself:
http://www.imaja.com/as/environment/can/journal/madhousecentury.html

More on Earth's 100,000 year orbit and Ice Ages:
http://www.grandunification.com/hypertext/Earths_100000_yr_cycle.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Age#Variations_in_Earth.27s_orbit_.28Milankovitch_cycles.29

Comments on the Arctic:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x106152#106185

[HeresyLives]

9. Everyone knows we've been thru ice ages, and hot ages.

But recently we've had 10,000 years of temps ideal for humanity to thrive in.

And yet, here we are changing it for the worse, with our own actions.

THAT'S the point.