Why are there ice ages?
Source:the Next ice age will come on Earth about 50 thousand years
According to an article published on the portal over the last 2.6 million years, our planet has survived more than 50 glacial periods alternated with warmer interglacial periods. The latest occurred on our planet 11700 years ago, and the next one is expected only in 50 thousand years. What caused such a long gap between warm and cold periods and will make the ice sheets of the Earth to expand with a special frequency?
What is an ice age?
Ice age — a special time in the history of our planet, which at this time begins to experience a strong cooling of the climate that causes the expansion of the ice sheets of the Earth. It is known that ice ages are caused by a complex and interrelated set of factors that include both local effects, such as the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and global influence, which include even the position of the Earth in .
Only a couple of centuries ago, scientists were able to decipher the “clues” hinting at the past . In the middle of the 19th century naturalist Louis Agassiz was able to document the marks that glaciers left on the Earth in the form of huge cliffs and giant boulders of heterogeneous origin, known as moraines.
Only at the end of the 19th century scientists gave names to four ice ages occurred during the Pleistocene. Meanwhile, several decades later, scientists were able to understand that the cold periods on Earth occurred much more often than it was before. So, in 1940-ies of the Serbian astrophysicist Milutin Milankovitch suggested that the vibrations of the sunlight and the sun reaching our planet would cause climate change. As a result, this theory was a major breakthrough in the understanding of the stages of the glacial period, being used until now as Milankovitch cycles.
Astrophysics were able to identify three main factors move the orbit of the Earth relative to the Sun. Thanks to this discovery, scientists learned how to determine how much solar radiation reaches our planet in a given period of time.
So could look Earth during the onset of the ice age.
As one of the main factors was allocated to the eccentric shape of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, is able to change from circular to elliptical at the 96 000-year cycle. The reason for the appearance of orbital convexity is a strong gravitational field , which displaces the orbit, and then returns it back.
The Second factor take the slope of the Ground, which is the reason for the presence of seasonality on our planet. The so-called tilt axis of rotation of the Earth affect both hemispheres, as deviating away from the Sun, one hemisphere is experiencing winter, while the other hemisphere which leans toward the Sun, experiencing summer. The angle of the Earth changes in a cycle of about 41 000 years, which greatly affects the extreme seasons.
The Third factor takes into account the fluctuation of the inclined axis of the Earth, which has similarity with the movement of the top. The oscillation of the inclined axis caused by the force of angular momentum of the Earth rotating very fast and only once a day, also causes oscillation of the inclined axis, and it occurs only 1 time for a 20,000-year cycle.
Milutin Milankovitch — scientist who discovered the cyclicity of glacial periods
Currently, it is believed that the actual cause of the glacial period is a fundamental feedback in the climate system. Scientists are still trying to figure out what environmental factors affect the global glaciation of the planet, causing considerable expansion of the glaciers.
Recent studies of scientists from the Potsdam Institute in Germany showed that the attack was caused by a decrease in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Thus, the sharp increase in carbon dioxide due to anthropogenic emissions and human activities are likely to have prevented the onset of the next ice age for up to 100,000 years. What do you think about this? Share your opinion in our .
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