Ice Ages Flashcards
Any time period when large ice sheets exist
Ice Age
____ ice ages have occurred in the past.
Many
Ice sheets formed on Antarctica first then expanded south from the Arctic Ocean
The Pleistocene Ice Age
COOLER periods when ice sheets cover enormous areas
Glaciations
WARMER periods between severe glaciations (still part of ice age)
Interglacials
____ land over one or both poles cools the Earth
Dry
This is the slowest factor to change over time
Plate Tectonics
The main on-off switch for ice-house climate
Plate Tectonics
Keep the Earth cool when they carry very cold water from poles to the equator
Ocean Currents
If currents circle the equator, the Earth stays:
Warm
This is a function of _______ blocking currents at times
Plate tectonics
_______ can change how much heat the Sun gives us
Earth’s Orbit
What affects how much heat the Sun gives us?
These cause glacial advances and retreats
- Oval vs Circle shape
- Sun’s position in oval
- Tilt of Earth’s poles
Greenhouse gasses like CO2 and methane can trap more solar heat inside our atmosphere
Reverse Greenhouse effect
If levels of CO2 + methane go down, the Earth…
Cools off
A TRIGGER factor
