Dear Saadoun,

We are currently enjoying a mild climatic event, an interglacial period that should be followed by an ice age. However, according to several studies, the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere is likely to thwart the imminence of this new ice age and push it back by tens of thousands of years. The factors behind the switch to an ice age are not all well understood. What is known is that two major parameters affect the (long-term) climate of our planet: the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the astronomical position of the Earth in relation to the sun . The first modifies the temperature of the lower layers of our atmosphere and the second the amount of energy that we receive from our star. For about 2.6 million years, the Earth has been experiencing a regular alternation of glacial and interglacial periods punctuated mainly by astronomical parameters (variation of the eccentricity of the ellipse of the Earth's orbit, obliqueness of the axis of the poles and precession of the equinoxes), we speak of Quaternary cycles. Currently, we are in an interglacial period, called Holocene, particularly conducive to the development of our civilizations, which began about 11,700 years ago. "This warming is reflected by an alternation of temperate episodes interspersed with colder periods, shorter and shorter (...) In the end, the Scandinavian and British ice caps melt and recede (...) The glaciers that covered the mountainous massifs also decline (...) The temperature of the North Atlantic waters increases by 10 ° C (...) With the global warming of the climate, the populations begin to go up towards the high latitudes of the northwest. (Ecce Homo, J-C Guéguen, 2018).

While an ice age lasts about 80,000 years, interglacial periods are shorter (from a few thousand years to 20,000 years). Which means that the Earth should know in a few millennia a new ice age.

Regards

Bachir ACHOUR

Dear Saadoun,

We are currently enjoying a mild climatic event, an interglacial period that should be followed by an ice age. However, according to several studies, the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere is likely to thwart the imminence of this new ice age and push it back by tens of thousands of years. The factors behind the switch to an ice age are not all well understood. What is known is that two major parameters affect the (long-term) climate of our planet: the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the astronomical position of the Earth in relation to the sun . The first modifies the temperature of the lower layers of our atmosphere and the second the amount of energy that we receive from our star. For about 2.6 million years, the Earth has been experiencing a regular alternation of glacial and interglacial periods punctuated mainly by astronomical parameters (variation of the eccentricity of the ellipse of the Earth's orbit, obliqueness of the axis of the poles and precession of the equinoxes), we speak of Quaternary cycles. Currently, we are in an interglacial period, called Holocene, particularly conducive to the development of our civilizations, which began about 11,700 years ago. "This warming is reflected by an alternation of temperate episodes interspersed with colder periods, shorter and shorter (...) In the end, the Scandinavian and British ice caps melt and recede (...) The glaciers that covered the mountainous massifs also decline (...) The temperature of the North Atlantic waters increases by 10 ° C (...) With the global warming of the climate, the populations begin to go up towards the high latitudes of the northwest. (Ecce Homo, J-C Guéguen, 2018).

While an ice age lasts about 80,000 years, interglacial periods are shorter (from a few thousand years to 20,000 years). Which means that the Earth should know in a few millennia a new ice age.

Regards

Bachir ACHOUR

Probably

@Bachir Achour Thank you very much. Your comment was very interesting.

@Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman ok