# Are We Going Thru Another Ice Age? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2002, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459 "2002-05-11T07:50:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/1 "2002-05-11T07:50:30Z")
It’s the strangest thing. First, the summers seem to be getting hotter and hotter. This is supposedly due to the infamous _Greenhouse Effect_–a theory I heartedly endorse, BTW. Then, about 5 yrs. ago I believe, the summers started being unusually mild and pleasant–in the non-South part of the U.S., in any event. My question, then, is a two-parter. _Are we going thru another Ice Age?_ I know we are certainly between them in any event. And _when will the next ice age be_? And I guess I could add to that, for good measure, _what causes them in the first place?_ Is it due to sun activity, like they used to say? TTFN:D ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/2 "2002-05-11T12:34:40Z")
Going through a Wet Age here. Rained every day this week. Going to start to think its Seatle pretty soon. (Missouri) All kidding aside I would venture to guess that nothing is amiss with the weather. It does not follow any set pattern, and when It seems that it is, its temporary. Alot of factors determine the climate of the seasons. It may seem that the summers are more mild, but in reality it falls within the average yearly temparature spectrum. (In the last 100 years it was a High of 80 deg with a Low of 65 degrees in June 8 different years…etc) Hope that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/3 "2002-05-11T19:37:28Z")
IMHO you are not going to have a new ice age if we are in a period of global warming (see causes of ice caps). I’m not that sure that we know everything we need to know simply because we have not been keeping accurate records very lone. Scientists are now investigating tree rings, ice cores and other means of looking into the past, but those aren’t the same. Some scientists think that for the last 100 years or so we have been living in a period of stable weather and that possibly we are going out of that period. Who know? As to possible causes of an ice age, there are [**four:**](http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/ice_ages/why_4_cool_periods.html) [ul][li] changing continental positions [/li][li] uplift of continental blocks [/li][li] reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere [/li][li] changes in the Earth’s orbit[/ul][/li] But don’t give up [**hope**](http://naturalscience.com/ns/cover/cover5.html) there is still a chance for a new ice age. Probably not in our lifetime, though. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/4 "2002-05-12T03:59:08Z")
I had read once (I think it was an Isaac Asimov book) that the early symptons of an Ice Age are NOT a lowering of overall temperature, but the combination of warm, moist winters (more snowfall on the ice packs) and cooler, cloudier summers (less melting of the ice packs). ---
**Author:** ![Sinyster1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Sinyster1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinyster1)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/5 "2002-05-12T04:20:09Z")
I don’t know what southern states you are talking about, but here in good old Texas is is hotter than a … something that is really hot. The last thing I am worrying about is an ice age. ---
**Author:** ![Koth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@Koth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/6 "2002-05-12T06:32:56Z")
Actually, the last ice age never ended. We’re still in it. But, uh, don’t quote me on that. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/7 "2002-05-12T07:14:37Z")
> [@](#): > > IMHO you are not going to have a new ice age if we are in a period of global warming Actually that isn’t totally true… Global warming could end up shutting down the Gulf Stream, which would lead to a much colder age, especially in Europe. This would lead to catastrophic effects on the world, and would be deemed an Ice Age, even if really wouldn’t fit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tyrrell_mcallister/32/16772_2.png) [@Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyrrell_McAllister)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/8 "2002-05-12T17:48:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Koth \* > \*\*Actually, the last ice age never ended. We’re still in it. > > But, uh, don’t quote me on that. \*\* 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/9 "2002-05-12T18:13:45Z")
> [@](#): > > The last interglacial…began a little after 130,000 years ago, and lasted for around 11,000 years. During that time, it appears that climatic conditions were close to those which have been experienced during the Holocene [i.e., the past 10,000 years – \*Pantellerite\*]. Temperatures were within 2°C and sea levels within a few meters of those during recent millennia while sub-tropical areas such as the Sahara experienced the same increase in rainfall recorded during the first half of the Holocene… From: Neil Roberts (1989) _The Holocene: An Environmental History_. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd. p. 42-43. In short, we _are_ and _have been_ in an “Ice Age”: in terms of geologic history (especially just since the Cretaceous), it’s about as cold now as it’s ever been (the late Precambrian “showball Earth” hypothesis notwithstanding). However, for the past 10,000 years (the Holocene), we’ve been in an interglacial cycle rather than a glacial cycle. During the Pleistocene (~2 million years to 10,000 years ago), there were three or four interglacials; the Holocene simply represents the most recent (which would make it the fourth or fifth overall). Interglacials are warmer periods that last(ed) 10,000 years or more–and perhaps as many as 20,000 years. Shorter intervals (\<1000 years) of cold (e.g., the “Mini Ice-Age”) or warmth that occur during glacial or interglacial cycles are called stadials and interstadials, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![socialxray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@socialxray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/socialxray)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-going-thru-another-ice-age/108459/10 "2002-05-12T19:53:44Z")
I’m behind the “still in an ice age” argument. Technically, according to a geodicist (sp) I saw speak at my school, an “ice age” is anytime during the Earth’s history that Glaciers exist on the surface. We go back and forth between these periods, so this one is still on going. As long as have polar ice caps, we’re in an ice age.