Thread: Last Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive

It took just six months for a warm and sunny Europe to be engulfed in ice, according to new research.
Previous studies have suggested the arrival of the last Ice Age nearly 13,000 years ago took about a decade - but now scientists believe the process was up to 20 times as fast.
In scenes reminiscent of the Hollywood blockbuster The day After Tomorrow, the Northern Hemisphere was frozen by a sudden slowdown of the Gulf Stream, which allowed ice to spread hundreds of miles southwards from the Arctic.
Geological sciences professor William Patterson, who led the research, said: 'It would have been very sudden for those alive at the time. It would be the equivalent of taking Britain and moving it to the Arctic over the space of a few months.'
Professor Patterson's findings emerged from one of the most painstaking studies of climate changes ever attempted and reinforce the theory that the earth's climate is unstable and can switch between warm and cold incredibly quickly.
His conclusions, published in New Scientist, are based on a study of mud deposits extracted from a lake in Western Ireland, Lough Monreagh - a region he describes as having the 'best mud in the world in scientific terms'.
Professor Patterson used a precision robotic scalpel to scrape off layers of mud just 0.5mm thick. Each layer represented three months of sediment deposition, so variations between them could be used to measure changes in temperature over very short periods.
He found that temperatures had plummeted, with the lake's plants and animals rapidly dying over just a few months.
The subsequent mini Ice Age lasted for 1,300 years and was probably caused by the sudden emptying of Lake Agassiz in Canada, which burst its banks and poured freezing freshwater into the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
That would have disrupted the Gulf Stream - the flows of which depend on variations in saline levels and temperature - and allowed the ice to take hold.
Some scientists believe that if the Greenland ice cap melts it could disrupt the world's ocean currents and have a similarly dramatic effect


Read more: Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive... not 10 years | Mail Online

The world is indeed non-linear...

6 months....OK at least I know it's too late to bet on a White christmas in London this year.

Cool.

Europe frozen in 6 months. Woopy for house prices here.

I remember BG talking about a particularly nasty cold snap a while back, he must have meant this.

We'll be okay if we swithch off some light bulbs, apparently.

Makes sense - that's in line with the way any deterministic chaotic system - made famous with the term butterfly effect - behaves.

It's stable for long periods, then there's a dramatic departure or bifurcation - the latter term is used for results that are dramatically different depending on very small variations in the starting parameters. What it all means is that yes, you not turning off that one light bulb might have been causing it :P

More seriously, I think it means enjoy every day.

Last ice age took 6 months to arrive ???

Must have come by bus

Time will tell. The earth is supposed to be in a cooling trend at the moment anyway. If it gets hotter, something is amiss.

THose animation films are getting produced a lot faster these days

I'm waiting for all out war! until that happens don't bother calling me.

Good news.....plenty of time to get down to Bangkok and buy some socks.

Still bloody hot here, although hints of cooling...

So airconditioning would not be a good business to get into then...

Gas central heating sounds like a better career move...?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Time will tell. The earth is supposed to be in a cooling trend at the moment anyway. If it gets hotter, something is amiss.

Scientists at the Met Office claim that there will always be periods of slower warming and temporary cooling. However, the long-term global temperature trend is certainly up.

Is The Earth Entering A Cooling Cycle? - Science News - redOrbit

The Ice Age has arrived I am afraid.....

Wednesday lat week, 19 degrees, thursday 18.. friday 17..saturday 16...sunday 15......and today 14 degrees.

At this rate, we have 2 weeks to get our shit together.

I bought 2 solar hothouses....in case not enough sun for 1.

Excellent purchases! Wish I could do the same. Bloody chilly today out. I actually shivered. The good or bad news is that it will warm up they say....

Originally Posted by Sdigit

I'll get my coat

Don't forget your hat and everso trendy ear muffs....uniquely twatish looking...always hated them things...

Originally Posted by Don Juan

'll be okay if we switch off some light bulbs, apparently.

Fcuk em' looks lovely doesn't it...then again so does this..
a snowboarders dream....bit sad if it's minus 70 though...

Originally Posted by Bangyai

Last ice age took 6 months to arrive ??? Must have come by bus

or Thai train....

Oh don't worry Nawty mate, I saw on some program from the states that if water levels rise like they think then Pak Chong will become one of the only places in Thailand not under water!!!! Silly me for moving to Trang...how much can a rent one of those solar thingys of ya then??? If I get in early can I geta cheaper price??