Final Conclusion

This will be my last blog. I had a fun time researching and finding out different I didn't know already.

From the information I found, I do believe that we will see the next ice age in the future. All the elements are there. Right now, we are experincing the first signs that the next ice age is coming. For emample, the sea levels are rising at a rate that scientists believe is uncalled for. The icebergs, in and around Antarctica are melting at a very dangerous rate. Storms that we go though in our everyday lives are getting more intense each year. Tornado outbreaks are becoming more and more threating every year. People are getting worried about these storm because they are starting to become more difficult to predict. I just found out that the volcanoes all around the world, even in the United States are becoming more active as well.

The next ice age

If enough cold, fresh water coming from the melting polar ice caps and the melting glaciers of Greenland flows into the northern Atlantic, it will shut down the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe and northeastern North America warm (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0130-11.htm). The worst-case scenario would be a full-blown return of the last ice age in a period as short as 2 to 3 years from its onset and the mid-case scenario would be a period like the "little ice age" of a few centuries ago that disrupted worldwide weather patterns leading to extremely harsh winters, droughts, worldwide desertification, crop failures, and wars around the world (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0130-11.htm). The next ice age is more than 15,000 years away, according to evidence from an Antarctic ice core, the deepest and oldest ever extracted (http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1128898.htm).

Is it possible for a future ice age?

In quick summary, if enough cold, fresh water coming from the melting polar ice caps and the melting glaciers of Greenland flows into the northern Atlantic, it will shut down the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe and northeastern North America warm (http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/feb04_IceAge.html). The worst-case scenario would be a full-blown return of the last ice age--in a period as short as two to three years from its onset; and the mid-case scenario would be a period like the "little ice age" of a few centuries ago that disrupted worldwide weather patterns leading to extremely harsh winters, droughts, worldwide desertification, crop failures, and wars around the world ( http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/feb04_IceAge.html). Showing graphs that proved the natural periodic comings and goings of ice ages and interglacial warm times like the one we now live in, they pointed to dramatic climatic spikes that occurred when world temperatures rose to a certain level (http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ab8599422eb.htm). These spikes caused the world climate to bounce between very cold and very warm, then disappeared as the planet went into another long ice age ( http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ab8599422eb.htm).

Effects of Global Warming

Though it is difficult to connect specific weather events to global warming, an increase in global temperatures may in turn cause other changes, including glacial retreat and worldwide sea level rise ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming). Changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation may result in flooding and drought (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming). There may also be changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming). Other effects may include changes in agricultural yields, reduced summer streamflows, species extinctions, and increases in the range of disease vectors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming).

The Greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect is the process in which the emission of infrared radiation by the atmosphere warms a planet's surface (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect). The name comes from an incorrect analogy with the warming of air inside a greenhouse compared to the air outside the greenhouse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect). The Earth's average surface temperature of 15 °C is about 33 °C warmer than it would be without the greenhouse effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect). The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 and first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect). Global warming, a recent warming of the Earth, is believed to be the result of increased concentrations of greenhous gases in the atmosphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect). In addition to the Earth, Mars and Venus have greenhouse effects (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect).

What causes Global Warming

Global Warming has alot to do with the change in our climate. The Earth's climate changes in response to external forcing, including variations in its orbit around the sun, volcanic eruptions, and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming). The detailed causes of the recent warming remain an active field of research, but the scientific consensus identifies elevated levels of greenhouse gases due to human activity as the main influence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming). This attribution is clearest for the most recent 50 years, for which the most detailed data are available (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming). In contrast to the scientific consensus that recent warming is mainly attributable to elevated levels of greenhouse gases, other hypotheses have been suggested to explain the observed increase in mean global temperature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming). One such hypothesis proposes that warming may be the result of variations in solar activity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming).

Hurricane cont..

A hurricane contain an eye that is at the center of the storm. The eye is a region of mostly calm weather found at the center of strong tropical cyclones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)). The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)). It is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather of a cyclone occurs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)). The cyclone's lowest barometric pressure occurs in the eye, and can be as much as 15% lower than the atmospheric pressure outside the storm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)). In strong tropical cyclones, the eye is characterized by light winds and clear skies, surrounded on all sides by a towering, symmetric eyewall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)).