Global Warming? Or Impending Ice Age?

Ice Age? - Geography - 09/15/97

This web page should give you a little background on the theory which is supported by geologists and the geologic record rather than meteorologists and politicians. According to the geological record (aquired from ice cores and excavations) several things precede an ice age's arrival. The first is an increase in ocean temperature (which is what global warming means), the second is an increase in volcanic activity (only about 5% of the Earth's volcanoes are on the surface so if you notice volcanic activity on the surface, it's probably really intense underwater) and magnetic instability. No matter how concerned I am about sustainability and resource management and chemical pollution, I've never been able to buy into the "global warming" nonesense that people try to cram down my throat. The main reason for that is the microscopic amount of scientific data which supports such claims. You know, the ones that are arrogant enough to presume that 200 years of industrial activity can be blamed for an 11,000 year warming of the earth. Especially, when we have historical records of temperatures for only about 100 years... (that's like the blind men arguing over what an elephant looks like based on what they can feel.)

Yep, that's right, the Earth has been warming since the last ICE AGE. Geologists who look at the ice cores taken from Antarctica and the North Polar regions can tell a lot about the climatic changes over the Earth's lifespan and essentially we have ice ages about every 11,000 years. At this point you should note that the last ice age was about 11,000 years ago. The theory goes like this... The molten iron core of the Earth spins inside the Earth and generates the magnetic fields which protect the Earth from solar radiation and CMEs as well as regulate out weather patterns. That magentic field is not a given element, it fluctuates with the spinning of the Earth's core... that's why magnetic North is not necessarily at the North Pole. If the Earth's core is experiencing the inevitable cyclical instability that all extremely complex systems undergo, then the results are:

1. Magnetic instability and unusually violet behavior from storms... A weakened or twisted magnetic field makes the Earth's atmosphere vulnerable to solar activity.

2. Increased volcanic activity. If the Earth's core is behaving strangely, then the magma which flows around it will behave differently as well. Something like 95% of the Earth's volcanos are under the oceans (if not more) so if you have increased volcanic activity on land, then you can imagine what's going on under the oceans. This means rising ocean temperatures, which is what climatologists are talking about when they say we are experiencing global warming, not actual atmospheric temperatures. That's a common misconception.

So, if volcanoes warm the ocean and create more moisture in the atmosphere then we'll be seeing increased ice formation at the poles... which is the beginning of an ice age. Interestingly, the geological record also shows that the onset of an ice age can happen very fast. Within 20 years some scientists estimate... and starting from average ocean temperatures even higher than we have today. What I don't get, is how global warming nuts, can expect us to believe that 150 years of industrial activity has any signifigance in the warming trends in the Earth's climate. Compared to the millions of active volcanoes at the bottom of the ocean showing icreased activity, our greenhouse gasses are not even a drop in that bucket. Don't get bent out of shape over this Global Warming scare... focus on the things that actually affect our planet... recycle, conserve energy, don't waste resources and figure out ways to make environmentalism profitable rather than a burden.