Scientists predict the future of the earth’s climate and the emergence of the Little Ice Age. How will humans respond?

The Ice Age happened more than 10,000 years ago, but the Little Ice Age is not far away from us, because there was a Little Ice Age hundreds of years ago during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the event was about 1550 The 220 years from 1770 to 1770 ended in the early 19th century, and according to some theories, the Little Ice Age may occur in the next few decades!

Why do glaciations and Little Ice Ages occur on Earth?

The glaciation period, also known as the Great Ice Age, refers to the ten periods in which the earth's long-term low temperature caused the surface of the earth to be covered by glaciers. Most of the continents were covered by glaciers. There were several warm periods between the ice ages, which are called intermittent periods. During the glacial period, we are currently in the interglacial period of the Quaternary glacial period. This warm period began 14,000 years ago and lasted approximately 20,000 to 40,000 years based on the time of the previous interglacial period. Therefore, theoretically, we have just passed it. About half the time!

Why did the Great Ice Age occur?

This is mainly related to the following points. One is the composition of the atmosphere, and the other is plate movement. Let’s briefly analyze them one by one!

How do atmospheric composition affect glacial periods?

The contribution of the atmosphere to the earth's temperature is an appropriate greenhouse effect, and the proportion of carbon dioxide in it is the key to heat preservation. This does not mean that the effects of carbon dioxide are all negative. When it is in an appropriate proportion, it can ensure that the earth is in a During the warm period, if plants develop rapidly, carbon dioxide in the air will be solidified in the plants, causing the greenhouse effect of the earth's atmosphere to decrease, the earth will become colder, and an ice age will occur.

Carboniferous Rainforest

Plate Movement

This may be relatively understandable. The earth's plates are shuffled like playing mahjong, and the temperature will be different? This is indeed the case, because the movement of continental plates will block the ocean currents in the equatorial region from being transported to the poles, which may cause the middle and high latitudes to be covered by large ice sheets, which in turn will reflect more sunlight back into space, forming an irreversible ice age.

How did the Little Ice Age occur during the interglacial period?

This factor is related to the changes in atmospheric composition and ocean currents mentioned above, but these are difficult to occur in such a short period of time as the interglacial period. Therefore, the interglacial period may be related to the decrease in sunspot activity and the decrease in solar output. The decline, as well as the periodic changes in the earth's position in space around the sun (Milankovitch cycle), of course, may also be caused by volcanic eruptions that cause a large amount of dust to form aerosols covering the atmosphere, causing the radiation to reach the ground to decrease.

Spectacular scenes of volcanic eruptions seen from space

For example, after the eruption of Enaptina volcano in South America in 1600 and the eruption of Tambora volcano in 1815, both of them had great impact on those years. The winter had a great impact, and this climate continued to affect the next summer. In the following years, it gradually disappeared as it slowly subsided, so volcanic eruptions were also a big factor.

What will humans do if the Little Ice Age occurs?

The average temperature of the earth during the entire Little Ice Age did not actually drop by more than 1℃, but the impact of just 1℃ was extremely far-reaching. Why is this happening? Because the earth has a balanced system of atmosphere and ocean current circulation, this 1°C change means an increase in extreme low-temperature weather and the expansion of the polar ice caps to low latitudes! How big the impact was, we will know by referring to the early records!

Heavy snowfall in Guangzhou during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was not uncommon, but after the 1930s, there was no heavy snowfall in Guangzhou! We now know that in such a low latitude area as Guangzhou, even snow is rare, let alone heavy snow! This means that the winter north of the Tropic of Cancer starts to be colder, spring comes late, summer is short, and autumn ends hastily, and it is another long winter! In the Central Plains and Northeast China further north, life is even more difficult. Summers can even be so short that rice cannot be grown, and wheat and highland barley are the main crops.

How should humans face low temperature environments?

Even if the modern earth is still a civilization based on agriculture, to put it bluntly, it depends on the sky for food! The drop in temperature will seriously affect food output, so it can be considered that a food crisis will definitely occur. If net food imports will more than double from the current ratio, the international food market will skyrocket, and even those with money will not be able to buy food. Situation (the Little Ice Age affects mid- and high latitudes, but has little impact on low latitudes and the equator).

Potato fields

Greenhouse agriculture must be considered, and the staple food will be transformed from the current cereals (longer cycle, high sunshine requirements) to other grass crops, such as corn and The emergence of potato and other potato crops as a substitute for food may not affect the food and clothing problem, but the eating habits of some people may have to change permanently, because according to experience, this Little Ice Age will last at least hundreds of years!

Will the earth enter an ice age?

Among the several conditions that caused the Little Ice Age, the only factor that can occur suddenly is a volcanic eruption, and the Yellowstone volcano in the United States is one of the most uncertain factors. It has always been *** in the past 2 million years. It has erupted three times, with an interval of more than 600,000 years, and now it happens to be in a new eruption cycle. So if the Yellowstone volcano erupts, then we will not face global warming, but the Little Ice Age!

How to proactively deal with the Little Ice Age?

Of course, the first priority of volcanic eruptions is not to deal with the Little Ice Age, but in this article we will not consider how to rescue and other issues! Above we already know how the Little Ice Age happened, and then we know how to proactively respond, such as increasing the efficiency of the earth’s sunlight absorption, or increasing the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, etc. To put it simply, we are currently using a lot of fossil fuels. Just try to increase the greenhouse effect by about 1℃ within a few decades!

Coincidentally, since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have caused the earth’s average temperature to increase by 1.15°C. This is interesting. Maybe we are avoiding a Little Ice Age? This is not to say, after all, human beings have a real impact on the earth's environment, and the average temperature of the earth is indeed rising, because the ocean is honest, and the bleaching of corals tells us that we may not be avoiding the Little Ice Age. TAL has also avoided the Great Ice Age!