{"id":424015,"date":"2026-01-31T15:16:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=424015"},"modified":"2026-01-31T15:16:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:16:50","slug":"has-earth-seen-its-last-ice-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=424015","title":{"rendered":"Has Earth Seen Its Last \u2018Ice Age\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Aerial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ross Pomeroy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of millions of Americans are presently besieged by a massive arctic blast and winter storm. Luckily for them, it will only be temporary. That wasn\u2019t the case 20,000 years ago\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 26,500 to around 19,000 years ago, gargantuan glaciers covered\u00a0around a quarter<\/a>\u00a0of Earth\u2019s land area year-round. Their frigid reach extended to the areas that are now Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, and Boston. The\u00a0average global temperature<\/a>\u00a0was then about 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius), 11 degrees F (6 degrees C) cooler than the global annual average today. It was a chilly time to be alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And make no mistake, humans were alive. Though much of our species sheltered around the equator at the time, some did live in cooler regions such as central Europe, not far from the glaciers\u2019 icy reach. Clothing, constructed dwellings, fire, and omnivory<\/a> all helped our ancestors outlast the cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When that great freeze ended and the ice retreated about 11,700 years ago, then humanity really started to thrive. Buoyed by the warmth of the current \u201cinterglacial\u201d period, humans have been able to propagate pretty much everywhere on the surface of Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if this period of relative warmth we\u2019ve enjoyed were to come to an end? What if Earth entered another \u201cice age\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First off, Earth is technically in an ice age right now, defined as\u00a0a time when both of the planet\u2019s poles<\/a>\u00a0are covered with ice. What people actually mean when they talk about an \u201cice age\u201d is a \u201cglacial period.\u201d This is when the ice at the pole’s creeps toward the equator. These glaciers reflect the sun\u2019s rays back into space, making the Earth colder, which allows the glaciers to spread further, which chills the Earth even more \u2013 a positive feedback loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glacial periods are initially triggered by subtle changes in Earth\u2019s orbit as well as its tilt and wobble. These factors collectively affect how much solar radiation the Earth receives. Such changes are\u00a0cyclic and predictable<\/a>, which means that we have the ability to gauge when another glacial period is on the way. So, when will that be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current estimates<\/a> suggest that we have at least 10,000 more years of relative warmth, and perhaps as many as 200,000. Why the wide range? Because we are ourselves drastically altering the climate by burning fossil fuels. The more we burn, the longer we delay the next glacial period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a study<\/a> published in December, a team of researchers estimated that under current conditions, the next ice age is expected 50,000 years into the future. If we emit twice as much carbon as we have so far, which we\u2019re on pace to do in the next five decades, the next ice age will begin in 100,000 years. The researchers say we could delay glaciation by up to 200,000 years from present, but by then an ice age is likely unavoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Andreas Born at the University of Bergen\u2019s Department of Earth Science isn\u2019t so sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf a new ice age were to come, cities like Oslo, Stockholm, and Chicago would be covered by several thousand metres of ice. In that case, it\u2019s probably highly unlikely that humans would allow this to happen again, as long as there\u2019s a society,\u201d he told ScienceNorway<\/a>. \u201cThat could mean that the last ice age was actually the last ice age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next tens of thousands of years, it\u2019s reasonable to assume that humanity will have pioneered numerous ways to geoengineer the planet\u2019s climate on rapid timescales, so another ice age could very well be preventable. But if not, humans will likely have hundreds or even thousands of years to adapt as polar ice returns to claim the land at lower latitudes. It won\u2019t appear as suddenly as America\u2019s current cold snap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published by RealClearScience and made available via RealClearWire.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of millions of Americans are presently besieged by a massive arctic blast and winter storm. Luckily for them, it will only be temporary. That wasn\u2019t the case 20,000 years ago\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":424020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the possibility of a future ice age and how climate changes could delay it for thousands of years. Delve into Earth's icy history today!","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Is Earth Facing Another Ice Age? Future Climate Predictions","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMVwvQVFNblppMGtvUGlsNU9Db1pZVFBpc0tLSzgwYTlhcERiX0JHQlVHOHFqX2V2NnU4Vnlkb0RsY3lycEFLNmpOSE5QVzJudngtcWEzM2g0OHl4RVpTUnppbnUzekxadHB3eW5xXzJDa0dxS05qSVhPeEJyakVjVEdjZHN1dG1LNGEtMTAyNHg3MDIuanBlZyIsInR4dCI6IkhhcyBFYXJ0aCBTZWVuIEl0cyBMYXN0IFx1MjAxOEljZSBBZ2VcdTIwMTk_IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE1NTgxMjQ0OX0.ZxL7qE977KihlHg70HbeRALCe3waFAFCA7juSIpjbbsMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691824330,691825163,691841095,691841094,691841093],"class_list":["post-424015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-earths-ice-ages","tag-geo-engineering","tag-great-freeze","tag-professor-andreas-born","tag-university-of-bergens-department-of-earth-science","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMnZi0koPil5OCoZYTPisKKK80a9apDb_BGBUG8qj_ev6u8VydoDlcyrpAK6jNHNPW2nvx-qa33h48yxEZSRzinu3zLZtpwynq_2CkGqKNjIXOxBrjEcTGcdsutmK4a.jpeg?fit=1214%2C832&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1MiX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":286787,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=286787","url_meta":{"origin":424015,"position":0},"title":"New Evidence We Are Entering An Ice Age Termination Event – EXPLAINED","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2006, Methane levels began to rapidly increase in Earth's atmosphere and haven't showed signs of slowing down. 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