Ice ages cycles

[Anonymous No.7369506]

Hello people. I have some questions for some of you: are we heading into another ice age? Are ice ages cyclical?

[Anonymous No.7369512]

>>7369506
Yes, most ice ages are cyclical. They typically depend on the Milankovich cycles, or at least have done so for the past few million years. The shape of the continents, features like the Isthmus of Panama, etc, allow our current ice age cycles to be rather predictable.

That being said, there are other causes of small ice ages such as volcanoes that are obviously less predictable. To answer your first question: barring a less predictable cause, no. We are not entering an ice age at the moment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles

[Anonymous No.7369528]

>>7369512
And when would we enter into one without taking into account one of those less predictable causes or the human impact on the enviroment?

thanks for your answer

[Anonymous No.7369549]

>>7369506
It depends on what you call "ice age." Insolation from the sun (modulated by Milankovitch cycle) causes glacial/interstadial oscillation with period about 100ky.

On top of that, there is also the longer tectonic control and the Earth if you look back to 65 million years ago have steadily been cooling. This is due to decrease in seafloor spreading rate and tectonic uplift (mountain building draws down CO2).

We're currently on an interglacial (the Holocene) but with respect to 100ky cycles seen in ice cores the Holocene is an unusually long interglacial. Many scientists believe that this is due to early civilization already altering the greenhouse gas composition of the planet even before the pre-Industrial revolution (see: Early Anthropocene hypothesis).

[Anonymous No.7369566]

>>7369549
uh-huh, thanks

>The overdue-glaciation hypothesis has been challenged on the grounds that comparison with an earlier interglaciation (MIS 11, 400,000 years ago) suggest that 16,000 more years must elapse before the current Holocene interglaciation comes to an end