here is an interesting thought... what would it take for a whole country to become a desert... if one thinks about a glacial period, they may think that means more snow, and much colder temperatures, and while this may be true to some extent, the potential reality may be that, because so much water would be locked into the glaciers and ice sheets, then any locations higher in latitude than the equator will be extremely dry, despite the ice. it is quite possible that in an "Ice Age" the equator would have a much greater density of Life potentially due to migrating species and perhaps the adaptation of existing species to the changing climate through natural selection that favors colder climates, and while i dont believe the Woolly Mammoth would suddenly come back, i do think that similar animals would develop much greater fat quantities within their skin, or they would not be able to adapt and would then become extinct. thinking about the climate of a Glacial period, the fact that it would be much drier would cause (in this scenario at least) most of the northern and perhaps the southern hemisphere to become very much like deserts. in contrast lets say that it becomes extremely warm, or that is, the hight of the Post-Glacial warming trend, similar to the warm period during the Medieval period where the growing period was (as far as my research shows) at least two months longer than in the current period, this due to much hotter temperatures globally. so by this reasoning, warming is actually desirable, if perhaps uncomfortable in other respects. the more warmth in the world, the more LIFE there is surviving and perhaps thriving. there are far more creatures and species that are adopted to warmer climates than there are for much colder climates. it has been speculated that if the ice in the caps melt enough, the fresh water would offset and disrupt the ocean currents, and through this speculation this could cause a destabilization if not full reversal of the currents, causing (as of now unknown) effects which could be potentially devastating, but then it could also mean that it would suddenly get colder, throwing us into another ice age, or glacial period. technically we are still currently IN an Ice age, however it is possible that the temperatures are in fact fluctuating towards are cooler climate. now, ice ages do not happen over night. even if Yellowstone where to erupt, it would still take perhaps a decade or two if not even a whole century for the effects to even be noticed, despite the obvious effects of the eruption itself. in this case, the eruption would cover the Plains with a large amount of ash, which could potentially cause the destruction of the farming industry in that part of the US... however, as is often shown by other eruption, volcanic ash can actually be incredibly fertile, though not very stable and quick to erode. all this of course, has happened before, as far as is known, at least 5-6 times, though of course the number of times is not know to an exact number, though it is generally thought to be at least that many times. Yellowstone, as is known is a Caldera Forming Hot Spot, which has erupted at least 3 times in the eruptive scale of VEI 8. VEI stands for Volcanic Explosivity Index... other so called "Super Eruptions" have occurred in a few other places on earth (at least) such as the eruption which created Lake Toba, an enormous Caldera in Sumatra Indonesia...
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:32:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015