Is a Mini Ice Age Imminent?

Climate change has been a subject of discussion in the media for many years, supported with the use of arguments against oil polluting the environment and extreme scare tactics of Polar ice caps flooding civilians backyards. The issue has been ignored by the majority of lay people as seeming too complicated, and with all the conflicting information in the media in the past, who can blame them? However, scientifically, climate change and what perpetrates it is fairly simple to understand and society as a whole is beginning to come to a clear consensus on climate change. Thanks in part to more readily available forms of media and information, people have become cognizant of the fact that climate change is a legitimate problem which requires immediate amelioration. While this may seem melodramatic, society is realizing that climate change is an issue which can no longer be denied if the human race wishes to continue.

These last two election cycles have demonstrated the importance of climate change in relation to politics and the american people. What is unfortunate is that what seems to be a very crucial and real problem in our human survival, according to scientists, is being debated by people who do not have the scientific credentials to even discuss the science behind the reality of climate change. Those behind the skeptics, have funded a successful campaign against the reality of the facts and have introduce doubt into the sciences.

Global climate change is an issue being debated all over the world from the recent presidential debates late last year to documentaries being created on either side of the global warming debate. Currently, the world is experiencing many tremendous changes including warming or the earth and rising of our oceans. “The heat extremes were especially pervasive in the Arctic, with temperatures in the fall running 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal across large stretches of the Arctic Ocean. Sea ice in that region has been in precipitous decline for years, and Arctic communities are already wrestling with enormous problems, such as rapid coastal erosion, caused by the changing climate” ”(Gillis, 2). Some believe that global warming exists while

This report focuses on an event that occurred a long time ago, known as the Little Ice Age. A description of what it is, how it began, how long it lasted, whether it was instantaneous or consistent over time, and how it is related to climate change are included in this paper. What the cause for the Little Ice Age and its effects and impact on society in the past, present, and future are discussed. Furthermore, the positive and negative feedback loops part of the Little Ice Age are addressed, and any future projections of an event similar to this are also talked about. Finally, a drawing of the various interactions between the event and each sphere of the Earth- the Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Lith¬osphere, Atmosphere- is included towards the end of the report. There are two interactions for each sphere. A conclusion wrapping all that was discussed in the report is encompassed within this paper. The Little Ice Age and its relation and impact on the climate and the Earth System are the major focus of this report.

Global warming is one of the most controversial topics in the world today. Global warming describes a condition where the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans increase. Global warming is predicted to have significant harmful effects on life on earth. The controversy arises from conflicting evidence in the scientific community as to whether humans are contributing to global warming, whether it is a result of natural forces that are beyond the control of humans, or in some cases, whether it is even occurring at all. This research will examine credible evidence of global warming and will explore its causes and

Former President of the United States, Barack Obama, once said that “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.” In fact, scientific evidence for climate change is undeniable and the effects of climate change are beginning to be felt all around the world (“Global Climate Change”). Furthermore, evidence to support these claims for climate change can be found anywhere from the tops of mountains to ice cores drawn from the bottom of the earth. For these reasons, the causes, effects, and solutions of climate change need to be understood, so that all people of the next generation still have a suitable habitat to live in.

The recent panic about global warming is causing problems throughout the United States. The global warming debate is a variety of arguments regarding the nature, causes, and consequences of worldwide global warming. The disputed issues include, whether this warming trend is extraordinary or within normal climatic variations, whether humankind has caused it, and whether the increase is an object of poor measurements. The controversy is much more pronounced in the popular media than in the scientific literature, where there is a strong agreement that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend could mainly be caused by human related emissions of greenhouse gases. The question is, is global warming human

Have you noticed an unusual trend that wherever you are living it feels hotter than before or it began to feel warm slightly earlier? If so, you’re not the only one. The Earth’s climate is constantly changing, and unfortunately it’s not for the better. Our planet that everybody calls home has a complex environment engulfed with diversity. These complexities also differ among location, which result in warm and cold regions. The regions also shift temperatures according to the location of our planet orbiting our sun. There is definitely an overall trend around the world that our climate is increasing in temperature. Even if it’s too slight to be noticeable, it’s there. This increase should be concerning to us because of harmful problems such

The earth has an undeniable history of climate change whether it be warming or cooling. The evidence of the Little Ice Age proves the earth can cool by its own with no aid of human influence. However, in recent years it has been suggested humans have been instrumental in the warming of our planet and the melting of polar ice as a result of the industrial era. The industrial era has brought upon the increase of greenhouse gas emitted. According to City Metric, “One idea is that small increases in greenhouse gases due to the expansion of agriculture that started 8,000 years ago have in fact delayed the next ice age.” (Mark Maslin, 2017) The cause of ice ages is not completely understood, but seems to be a natural occurrence. However, the idea that ice ages were caused by the earth’s orbit still is not irrelevant.

According to a study performed by the University of Northumbria (https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/) of the United Kingdom, Earth’s northern hemisphere should be experiencing a mini ice age in the next 15 years. However, new research shows that this may not be the case after all. This could just be a case of confusing causation with correlation, but that doesn’t forgive the phenomenal ‘news’ being released without confirmation and having the claim be refuted mere days later.

The Earth’s climate has continuously changed throughout history. Most of the time, these climate changes are attributed to small variations in Earth’s orbit, which in turn changes the amount of solar energy reflected onto the planet. However, according to NASA, the current warming trend is of such significance because “most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years.” Essentially, what happens is that sunlight passes through the atmosphere and warms the Earth’s surface. This heat is radiated back towards space. Most of the outgoing heat is absorbed by greenhouse gas molecules and re-emitted in all directions, warming the surface of the Earth and the lower atmosphere. Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, emit are increasingly emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The Earth has been known to go through various natural warming and cooling periods throughout history. During warmer interglacial periods, CO2 levels are higher and during cooler glacial periods, CO2 levels are lower (Monnin, 2004). This is because the heating and cooling of Earth’s surface can cause significant changes in greenhouse gas concentrations (Monnin, 2004). These changes often act as a positive feedback, intensifying the existing temperature changes (Monnin, 2004). For example, it was slightly warmer during the Holocene Climatic Optimum about 5,000-6,000 years ago and was slightly cooler during the Little Ice Age from about 1600 AD

Global warming is a serious issue affecting the modern world. This phenomenon is caused by increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Bradford). In fact, the atmosphere now contains 40% more carbon dioxide than in the mid-1700’s (“Causes of Climate Change”). The Greenhouse Effect, caused by gasses such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane, traps heat within the atmosphere that would normally be reflected into space. The retention of heat is natural and has occurred since the earth’s formation; however, the retention rate has never increased so rapidly. This rapid change, if allowed to continue,

In the 19th century, an awareness began to dawn that accumulated carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere could create a “greenhouse effect” and increase the temperature of the planet. A perceptible process in that direction had already begun — a side-effect of the industrial age and its production of carbon dioxide and other such "greenhouse gases."

“When taking the heating of the entire climate system into account, our planet has warmed at a rate equivalent to 4 Hiroshima atomic bomb detonations per second over the past 15 years” (Cook). Our planet is becoming warmer. When scientists add up all the heat warming the land, oceans, atmosphere, ice melting, earth is accumulating heat equivalent to four Hiroshima bombs worth of heat per second. Global warming is a serious issue faced by our world as there has been a significant increase in temperature over the years. But the article published by Dr. Mark Sircus on “Global Warming -largest science scandal in the history” refutes the theory of global warming. Dr. Sircus states that there is no linkage between carbon dioxide and temperature leading to global warming, the sea level is not rising, arctic sea ice extent is now higher and climate change is due to solar activity. Dr. Sircus also points out that that the recent weather changes are not in line with global warming and “we are in the beginning of a deep freeze” (Global Warming - Largest Science Scandal in US History). NASA and the scientific community states that global warming is not a hoax and there is a rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature due to greenhouse gases released as people burn fossils. NASA states that the “key indicators of global warming are based on surface, satellite, and ocean temperature measurements, satellite measurements of energy imbalance and of receding glaciers, sea ice, and