Ice Ages, Earth’s varying temperature and CO2 levels
Graph of CO2 (Green graph), temperature (Blue graph), and dust concentration (Red graph) measured from the Vostok, Antarctica ice core as reported by Petit et al., 1999.
Take a look at the “Earth’s rise and fall of temperature and CO2” graph on the right. It shows temperature variations in degrees Celsius of the earth from the present to over 400,000 years ago.
While gathering data for the End of the World 2012 Movie, Book, and EBook, I researched previous end of the world scenarios, such as the Ice Ages.
What impresses me with this graph is that, even though there is concern were are in a Global Warming phase, the earth has actually been warmer than it is today.
In addition, it has been much, much colder than it is today.
There is a temperature variation from warmest to coolest of about 12 degrees Celsius. That’s a lot.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be concerned with the environment. I’m only wondering how much our present temperature changes are part of the normal cycle of changes on earth.
The graphs look as if extreme climate change are inevitable, of course, over hundreds of thousands of years.
My conclusion is to be happy for each day as it comes.
Higher dust levels are believed to be caused by cold, dry periods. The Earth’s orbital eccentricity, tilt, and precession vary in a pattern over thousands of years. The IPCC notes that Milankovitch cycles drove the ice age cycles; CO2 followed temperature change “with a lag of some hundreds of years” (visible on a graph more zoomed in than this); and that as a feedback amplified temperature change. Among other factors, CO2 is more soluble in colder than in warmer waters.
