What caused the Ice Age? What made the Earth so BRRRRR that all the water turned to Ice?
348258
The currently-favored theory has to do with Milankovitch cycles:  periodic variations in Earth's axial tilt and orbit that cause it to oscillate between cold and warm epochs.  \n\nThe theory seems to work well, but it has some holes; it can't explain all the ice ages of the past million years, nor why most of the planet's history has been ice free with only a few glacial periods.  In short, there's a lot we don't know about what causes ice ages.
720417
No, not quite as old as Earth, and definitely not as old as the universe. Water first occurred on Earth not long after it cooled enough for a water-bearing atmosphere to form. That atmosphere and its water content came mainly from volcanic outgassing some 3.5- to 4-billion years ago. Some of Earth's water does escape into space but, as you point out, what we have today is pretty close to what was around billions of years ago. Recycling works!
443894
an ice age increases the coverage of ice on the planet which obviously makes it colder.. but also means that radiation from the sun is reflected back into the atmosphere making it cooler again and perpetuating the ice age. precipitation also decreases, ie it rains and snows less (antartica is the driest continent in the world). wind is produced by air currents which are created by warm air rising in various patterns around the globe, so wind patterns would alter which would also affect the climate. additionally ocean currents would be altered by the increase of ice and colder waters, which would again alter the climates in maritime areas
138305
because they are to dumb to look back at history because it dosent exist. because think about it we are coming out of an ice age. it makes sense dosent it? fact: there have been ice ages. fact: there is a lot of ice in ice ages. so if you know about water then you know the same amount of it is here that was here when the earth began so literally it is dinasor piss. well during an ice age lots of stuff is covered in water/ice ( i know i live in minnesota and it is known that it was fully covered with ice.). so where is all the water? in ice bergs, glachiers, ect. so it would make sense that to leave an ice age most things would melt right? so they are still melting they will finish melting and cover parts of the world, then it will slowly freze causing an ice age. why would humans make that big of a difference? we are insignificant to the world.(everyone in the world could fit in texas and it would only be as densly populated as ny city). so our vehicles and combustable engines couldent have that big of an effect. but you say "what about the ozone thinning?" well i am not saying it hasent but it was because of the cfc's(cloral floral carbons) which broke up the ozone by atatching to ozone molocules. but the cfc's are no longer around. the ozone is healing itself as it is meant too. ther was no real hole only a thining which is also bad. but now it is closing up and returning to normal. if you think that the co2 we produced cant be good well think about it it isnt that mutch and while the earth was cooling after beieng created it released tons of co2. so what people will notice in the next 1-9000 years is it will warm up but in that time it will also cool down and eventually there will be an ice age. just because the great human race is here dosent mean that the earth will stop having ice ages as it has done by its self for billoins of years. think about it.
344672
Global Warming.....glaciers melting and too much water for the land.
308015
Short answer: nothing would happen.\n\nLonger answer:  Think of it like this.  The oceans make up 2/3rds of the surface area of the planet, approximately.  They are much, much deeper than tall buildings, trees, or even mountains.  Also think about water displacement- the volume of water that something displaces is equal to its own volume.\n\nRising sea levels are caused, mostly, by melting polar ice caps.  So how big are these ice caps and how much is melting?  The ice caps cover the Arctic (the size of a major continent) and most of Antarctica, which together is probably the size of two major continents.  Worst case scenario- most of it melts.  Let's be optimistic- 10%.  Can you really imagine the boats that we have adding up to 10% the volume of an entire continent, let alone two?  No, it's ridiculous.  A mountain or two, sure, plausible, but something the size of Texas?  No.  Absolutely not.
244612
videos i dont know but   in my opinion is it doesn't exist. because think about it we are coming out of an ice age. it makes sense doesn't it? fact: there have been ice ages. fact: there is a lot of ice in ice ages. so if you know about water then you know the same amount of it is here that was here when the earth began so literally it is dinosaurs piss. well during an ice age lots of stuff is covered in water/ice ( i know i live in Minnesota and it is known that it was fully covered with ice.). so where is all the water? in ice bergs, glaciers, etc. so it would make sense that to leave an ice age most things would melt right? so they are still melting they will finish melting and cover parts of the world, then it will slowly freeze causing an ice age. why would humans make that big of a difference? we are insignificant to the world.(everyone in the world could fit in Texas and it would only be as densely populated as NY city). so our vehicles and combustible engines couldn't have that big of an effect. but you say "what about the ozone thinning?" well i am not saying it hasn't but it was because of the CFC's(chloral floral carbons) which broke up the ozone by attaching to ozone molecules. but the CFC's are no longer around. the ozone is healing itself as it is meant too. their was no real hole only a thinning which is also bad. but now it is closing up and returning to normal. if you think that the co2 we produced cant be good well think about it it isn't that much and while the earth was cooling after being created it released tons of co2. so what people will notice in the next 1-9000 years is it will warm up but in that time it will also cool down and eventually there will be an ice age. just because the great human race is here doesn't mean that the earth will stop having ice ages as it has done by its self for billions of years. think about it. am i a genius or what i mean i just looked at what has happened in history wow who would have thought history would repeat its self
123503
The earth has been destroyed many times.  Ever heard of the "Ice Ages"?  That is how the earth "starts over."\n\nRead this article: http://nov55.com/cli.html
186949
Only hard water. It was the Ice Age
61988
We have been able to observe that the earth has been going through a cycle of glaciation that is about 100,000 years in duration, and has extended back for that last one million years or so. We are presently recovering from one of these periods of glaciation. Here you can see a graph that shows these cycles: http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/land/global/climchng.html\n\nAs the earth's orbit changes slightly in cycles known as Milankovitch cycles, the earth begins to cool. As this cooling causes glaciers to increase in size due to less summertime melting, the glaciers themselves begin to effect climate. The glaciers reflect much more sunlight than bare rock or soil, so they accelerate the cooling effect on the planet. Other changes occur as more water is stored in glacial ice and sea level is likely to drop. This in turn has effects on the salinity of the oceans and changes current patterns in the ocean. Growth of glaciers is even believed to have effects on weather patterns like the jet stream. The effects are very complex and the study of paleoclimate is very interesting, and has much potential for discovery and understanding the changes in climate our earth is currently experiencing. \n\nAnother major effect of glaciers is caused by their weigh and the effect that accumulations of large masses of ice can have on the underlying earth's crust. Current studies using geodesy (measurements of change in elevation) of the Louisiana coastline suggest that glaciers in North America that extended as far south as southern Illinois may have even caused movement of the American continental plate that is taking place today. As these glaciers melted they removed a great weight of ice from the northern parts of the continent. This may have caused that part of the continent to rise, and the southern part of the continent to sink, much like a teeter-toter, except the rocking motion is on a 10,000 year time scale. This may be one of the reasons that Louisiana is experiencing coastal flooding and was hit so hard by hurricanes. There is still considerable debate about how large a role tectonic rebound might be playing in Gulf subsidence, but my point is that receeding glaciers can have environmental effects that extend far beyond the existence of the glacier over time. The reference for this is here: http://www.hgs.org/en/cev/?286
857254
the atmosphere was heavily clouded with dust that took a very long time to settle out. This caused a drastic cooling of the surface temperature of the earth. Dinosaurs, being cold blooded, could not survive that drastic a climatologic change. In fact, it is posited that an ice age began as a result of the impact and dust. If you look at major volcanic eruptions over the past few hundred years you can see the same phenomenon occurring with regard to temperatures.
265470
ice age.\nThey are huge ice cubes left over from the Ice Age.  Mostly in the Northern areas, such as Alaska, they carve out beautiful Fjords, and are a wonder to see.
603130
Read the article below and you start to understand how variable earth's climate has been and more than likely will continue being.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nClimatologists have used various techniques and evidence to reconstruct a history of the Earth's past climate. From this data they have found that during most of the Earth's history global temperatures were probably 8 to 15° Celsius warmer than today. In the last billion years of climatic history, warmer conditions were broken by glacial periods starting at 925, 800, 680, 450, 330, and 2 million years before present.\n\nThe period from 2,000,000 - 14,000 B.P. (before present) is known as the Pleistocene or Ice Age. During this period, large glacial ice sheets covered much of North America, Europe, and Asia for extended periods of time. The extent of the glacier ice during the Pleistocene was not static. The Pleistocene had periods when the glacier retreated (interglacial) because of warmer temperatures and advanced because of colder temperatures (glacial). During the coldest periods of the Ice Age, average global temperatures were probably 4 - 5° Celsius colder than they are today.\n\nThe most recent glacial retreat is still going on. We call the temporal period of this retreat the Holocene epoch. This warming of the Earth and subsequent glacial retreat began about 14,000 years ago (12,000 BC). The warming was shortly interrupted by a sudden cooling, known as the Younger-Dryas, at about 10,000 - 8500 BC. Scientists speculate that this cooling may have been caused by the release of fresh water trapped behind ice on North America into the North Atlantic Ocean. The release altered vertical currents in the ocean which exchange heat energy with the atmosphere. The warming resumed by 8500 BC. By 5000 to 3000 BC average global temperatures reached their maximum level during the Holocene and were 1 to 2° Celsius warmer than they are today. Climatologists call this period the Climatic Optimum. During the climatic optimum many of the Earth's great ancient civilizations began and flourished. In Africa, the Nile River had three times its present volume, indicating a much larger tropical region.\n\nFrom 3000 to 2000 BC a cooling trend occurred. This cooling caused large drops in sea-level and the emergence of many islands (Bahamas) and coastal areas that are still above sea-level today. A short warming trend took place from 2000 to 1500 BC, followed once again by colder conditions. Colder temperatures from 1500 - 750 BC caused renewed ice growth in continental glaciers and alpine glaciers, and a sea-level drop of between 2 to 3 meters below present day levels.\n\nThe period from 750 BC - 900 AD saw warming up to 150 BC. Temperatures, however, did not get as warm as the Climatic Optimum. During the time of Roman Empire (150 BC - 300 AD) a cooling began that lasted until about 900 AD. At its height, the cooling caused the Nile River (829 AD) and the Black Sea (800-801 AD) to freeze.\n\nThe period 900 - 1200 AD has been called the Little Climatic Optimum. It represents the warmest climate since the Climatic Optimum. During this period, the Vikings established settlements on Greenland and Iceland. The snow line in the Rocky Mountains was about 370 meters above current levels. A period of cool and more extreme weather followed the Little Climatic Optimum. A great drought in the American southwest occurred between 1276 and 1299. There are records of floods, great droughts and extreme seasonal climate fluctuations up to the 1400s.\n\nFrom 1550 to 1850 AD global temperatures were at their coldest since the beginning of the Holocene. Scientists call this period the Little Ice Age. During the Little Ice Age, the average annual temperature of the Northern Hemisphere was about 1.0 degree Celsius lower than today. During the period 1580 to 1600, the western United States experienced one of its longest and most severe droughts in the last 500 years. Cold weather in Iceland from 1753 and 1759 c
78318
You should take a look here to see the formation of the ocean basins: http://www.mos.org/oceans/planet/change.html\nand then the next page, to see one theory on where the water comees from:\nhttp://www.mos.org/oceans/planet/cycle.html\n\nPerhaps a better answer is here:\nhttp://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/oct99/941236464.Es.r.html\n\nFurther discussion on the origins of all the water is given here:\nhttp://www.oceansonline.com/ocean_form.htm\nand under the "Origin of the oceans" title here:\nhttp://www.seafriends.org.nz/oceano/oceans.htm
634522
Climate change is a natural cycle for the Earth and will happen regardless of human interferance. In fact if you look at the cycles of Glaciation and Warming over the past few hundred millenia, we are probably due for a massive cooling phase, maybe even dramatic glaciation, sometime in the next few hundred years. A number of things affect this, most notably the tilt of the Earth in relation to the sun. This is effected by the cycle of the planets and their orbits, and cannot be changed or prevented. We are due, and when it happens it is likely that large portions of the northern hemisphere will become covered in glacial ice, as happened about 20,000 years ago, and lasted until about 8,000 years ago. The mini-glaciations happen in about 10,000 year cycles, so our current warm period (an inter-glaciation, not a warm period) is due to end soon. \nOne of my archaeology professors said to me once that it may well be deemed that the breif delay in this caused by carbon emissions may be deemed the greatest attempted effort of human engineering well in the future.
1159556
actually, because of Global Warming, we would be in the ice age.  The increase in temperature causes a higher density of water vapor in the air, as a result the net temperature on the surface of the earth drops, and we get lots and lots of percipitation.  The Earth is making drastic attempts to shift it's self to remedy this.  Al Gore thinks we can control it because WE caused it, and so it would stand to reason that we fix it.
175910
when a million years ago a meteor hit the earth and the dust that was created blocked the sun out and all of the dinosaours froze then came the ice age