Kevin's Watch

I would like to formally announce to you the end of days. We are in an ice age. It is currently the interglacial period, and the glacial (woolly mammoth time) is 15,000 to 50,000 years away (depending on how much CO2 we keep burning). If our current level of fossil fuel usage remains, we will be looking at 50,000, but since we're going to run out of things to burn in about fifty years, I'm thinking much sooner. Well guys, time to break out the Y2K stuff you saved in the basement...

Also, most of earth's history has been ice and shat, and our flourishing is only possible because this recent period has been unusually stable. Anyway, it's always been my dream to announce a species' extinction (especially ours), so there's one less thing on the bucket list.

Get your damn head out of the refrigerator. Geez, college kids these days.....

I think he's wacky on the junk.

Morons...read some research! I graduated college, by the way...

I just bought a new sweatshirt so I'm ready.

Lord Foul wrote:Morons...read some research! I graduated college, by the way...

I could tell by the brainwashing, dude.....err, I mean, congrats.

The Earth is presently in an ice age, and the present time is merely an interglacial period which has lasted for 11,700 years. That means the glaciers still exist only they have receded. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist. The present interglacial period, known as the Holocene era, has made the advance of human civilization possible. The current ice age has lasted approximately 2.58 million years to the present.

What people normally refer to as an ice age is really just a time during an ice age when glaciers are advancing.

We are expecting several inches of snow tonight here.

I know we're in an ice age, but it's my understanding that we're at the tail end - i.e. that the world is getting hotter, not colder. We should be due a lengthy period of savannahs and giraffes in Scotland long before we get any more glaciers this far south.

I could be wrong, of course. But that's what I understand.

nope, we're actually several thousand years overdue for an ice age.

...and by ice age I mean extremely cold period.

And how are such predictions made? On what basis? Using the geological record as a predictor, ice ages have occurred over different lengths of time.

By definition, however, the Earth is still in an ice age because the glaciers still exist, they have only receded; Greenland is covered in a sheet of ice; and Antarctica is covered in ice.

So if glaciation is one way of defining an ice age, they still exist. At what point can we say that the glaciers have receded so far that there is no more ice age? Where do you draw the line? They never drifted as far south as I am anyway.

If you say that we are several thousands years overdue for an ice age, it turns out that in fact interglacial periods, such as the one we are in, typically run for another 1,000 years. But that time range also varies widely.

magickmaker17 wrote:nope, we're actually several thousand years overdue for an ice age.

...and by ice age I mean extremely cold period.

Of course, by your own terms, there is conflicting evidence over when the next "ice age" will appear:
www.futurepundit.com/archives/002167.html

5,000 To 16,000 Years Till Next Ice Age?

Some scientist think the newly extracted ice core which reaches back 740,000 years provides evidence that the next ice age lies far into the future.

As long as humans do not mess it up, the Earth's climate is set at fair for the next 15,000 years. That is according to information extracted from the oldest ice core ever drilled.

I wouldn't be worrying about the ice age. I'd be worrying about the predicted 4 degrees c temp increase

www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126971 ... ?full=true

Seareach wrote:I wouldn't be worrying about the ice age. I'd be worrying about the predicted 4 degrees c temp increase

www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126971 ... ?full=true

Sounds nice, like a tropical island paradise.

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

Seareach wrote:I wouldn't be worrying about the ice age. I'd be worrying about the predicted 4 degrees c temp increase

www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126971 ... ?full=true

Sounds nice, like a tropical island paradise.

Yea! Poughkeepsie as the new Hawaii...and as a bonus, with binoculars, you can gaze serenely at the beautiful whales migrating between the towers of Manhattan...oh the luxury.
[...starts buying up the cheap property in the Catskills...]

I'm more worried about when Spam expires and why my stepfather still has his stash from Y2K...

How do you tell if Spam's gone bad?

Due to the excessive negativity and panicking, I request that Jay lock this thread. It is obvious that I will have to wait for a later generation to preach my message to.

I know Lord Foul is correct on his assestment of the current events. Even if all the ice melted it would cause Paris Hilton to move inland to new beachfront property.
I would love to see Palm trees in Kentucky.
But atlast, it's not to be so.
One of the reasons we have had a Ice-glaciers over the past few million years is because of Central America.
It's blocking the El Nino warmth from heating up the Alantic. This would cause higher temps causing a real warmup.
Maybe if we get some really big saws and cut that portion away we can have some real heat waves.

Cool - bring it on. Always wanted snow in my part of the country - will save me a fortune in snowboarding holiday costs!

Warming? even better! I live on a hill about 15 minutes from teh ocean - if the primo coastal real estate gets flooded, MY suburb will be the new ocean-front - and the value of my place with skyrocket!!

silver linings...