• Question: Thank you for the reply another question I would like to know is how do you think the Ice Age happen? Its probably an obvious answer but there might be more meaning!

    Asked by kaelym tyrrell to Danny on 17 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Danny Hnatyshin

      Danny Hnatyshin answered on 17 Nov 2020:

      Ice ages are super complicated! It appears that there are a few things happen together that might make an ice age happen

      1) Low volcanic activity – this reduces how much greenhouse gases there are which makes the planet not as warm
      2) Continents in special positions. If the continents block warm water from reaching the poles then its more likely snow will form.
      3) The earth orbit changes a bit overtime (known as the Milankovitch cycles) , sometimes the earth get a bit farther away (colder) or its tilted in a way that makes snow less likely to melt in summer.

      When these come together more snow and ice form. The key is that snow and ice reflect the suns heat away from the earth making it colder and making more ice and snow, and this cycle just starts repeating! This is called a positive feed back mechanism.

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