A new study suggests that while Earth’s last ice age ended around 11,700 years ago, the next one could be 10,000 years away. However, record fossil fuel burning is likely to postpone this anticipated event. The research, published in the journal Science, indicates that fluctuations in Earth’s orbit dictate periods of glacial and interglacial climates. By analyzing ice sheet volumes over the past 900,000 years, researchers found a consistent correlation between ice ages and orbital changes, contradicting previous theories that deemed the timing random.
We found a predictable pattern over the past million years for the timing of when Earth's climate changes between glacial 'ice ages' and mild warm periods like today.
Researchers have long suspected changes in the Earth's orbit of the sun are involved in determining when ice ages occur.
Transitions between glacial and interglacial periods matched up with small variations in the shape of the Earth's orbit of the sun.
This study's authors say ice ages follow set rules, indicating a possibility to predict when ice ages will occur based on changes to the Earth's orbit.
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