History of Climate Change

The history of Climate Change is a story spanning the timeline of our planet. Ice core samples, some as old as 600,000 years, are compelling evidence that Global Climate Change is a dynamic and ongoing process.

This process is illustrated by roughly 100,000 year cycles of warm periods, followed by 100,000 year cycles of cool periods, sometimes culminating in ice ages.

The tipping point, or geologic time between hot & cold ages, has been discovered in ice core samples to sometimes be as brief as 10 years (Younger Dryas or "The Little Ice Age" which lasted approximately 500 years from the 1300's to 1800's), and as much as hundreds of years.

The "Little Ice Age" was a time of tremendous hardship in Northern Europe, with records of extremely cold winters, heavy rains, poor crops, starvation & disease. The Thames River in England regulary froze over during this era, as glaciers advanced throughout the European Alps.

Other mitigating factors during that time were an increase in volcanic activity worldwide, which added volcanic ash to the atmosphere, effectively blocking out enough sunlight to further impact temperatures. It has also been shown that there was a reduction in sunspot activity during this time, which would point to a cooler sun. This is known as the Maunder Minimum.

It is believed that we are currently in a climate heating cycle which is exacerbated by high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. This CO2 "traps" heat, preventing it from escaping into outer space, much as the glass of a greenhouse traps the sun's heat, which enters the greenhouse, but cannot easily escape because of the glass. This is the common example known as "The Greenhouse Effect."

Currently, there is concern that man-made pollution in the form of Greenhouse Gases (GHG's), in particular CO2 are causing "anthropormophic," or man-made heating and therefore climate change. CO2 levels in our atmosphere are continuing to climb to levels never before seen in ice core samples. Scientists believe this portends dramatic global climate change and a much hotter climate.

Paradoxically, rising temperatures are believed to be able to set off ice-age scenarios. In brief, by melting too much glacial and polar water, the "conveyor belt" of warm water which keeps Northern Latitudes warm could be disrupted, causing it to stall, and heralding in much colder temperatures to the Northern Hemisphere. This could be the triggering event that initiates a new little ice age. Keep in mind that the last one ended after "only" 500 years!

The Earth's oceans are the weather-making mechanism for the planet, circulating heat captured in the ocean at the equator to the cooler areas, finally returning after a 1,000 year journey on a circuitous route.

Click here for a comprehensive site on the Summary of the History of Global Warming.