Big news—geologists have finally cracked the mystery behind the last Ice Age! Those massive ice sheets that disappeared over 11,000 years ago? Yeah, they might actually be making a comeback. Scientists have figured out what really triggers these deep freezes, and it all comes down to weird shifts in Earth’s orbit. For the longest time, no one could explain why our planet suddenly turns into a giant snow globe. But now that they’ve found the cause, they can even predict when the next one could hit. The scariest part? The same orbital changes are already starting again. ❄️🌍 Credit:
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/:
Makemake: by SebastianSosnowski, https://skfb.ly/o9LAH
Earth: by Akshat, https://skfb.ly/6TwGG
The Star “Sun”: by ARCTIC WOLVES™️, https://skfb.ly/oTDVZ
Foraminifera: by Hannes Grobe, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foraminifera-diagenesis1_hg.jpg
Foraminifera: by Doc. RNDr. Josef Reischig, CSc., CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foraminifera_(265_36)_Various.jpg
Foraminifera: by Louis-F. Stahl and Susanne Schneidereit, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foraminifera_-_Rotaliida_-_Planorbulinacea_-_Planulinidae_-_Planulina_Limbata.jpg
Yabeina globosa: by James St. John, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, https://flic.kr/p/2enz9WZ, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yabeina_globosa_fusulinid_foraminifera_(Akasaka_Limestone,_Upper_Permian;_Kinshozan,_Gifu,_Honshu,_Japan)_1_(46845445741).jpg
Aquarius studies Ocean and Wind Flows: by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC) and NASA's Earth Observatory., https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3829/
North American Monsoon: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12583/
Salt of the Earth: by NASA, https://images.nasa.gov/details/GSFC_20091012_Aquarius_m10504_Salt
Life Of Earth’s CO2: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11719/#media_group_339681
North American Monsoon: by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4474/
Life of the Monsoon: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12254/
Animation is created by Bright Side.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en
Stock materials (photos, footages and other):
https://www.depositphotos.com
https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/:
Makemake: by SebastianSosnowski, https://skfb.ly/o9LAH
Earth: by Akshat, https://skfb.ly/6TwGG
The Star “Sun”: by ARCTIC WOLVES™️, https://skfb.ly/oTDVZ
Foraminifera: by Hannes Grobe, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foraminifera-diagenesis1_hg.jpg
Foraminifera: by Doc. RNDr. Josef Reischig, CSc., CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foraminifera_(265_36)_Various.jpg
Foraminifera: by Louis-F. Stahl and Susanne Schneidereit, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foraminifera_-_Rotaliida_-_Planorbulinacea_-_Planulinidae_-_Planulina_Limbata.jpg
Yabeina globosa: by James St. John, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, https://flic.kr/p/2enz9WZ, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yabeina_globosa_fusulinid_foraminifera_(Akasaka_Limestone,_Upper_Permian;_Kinshozan,_Gifu,_Honshu,_Japan)_1_(46845445741).jpg
Aquarius studies Ocean and Wind Flows: by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC) and NASA's Earth Observatory., https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3829/
North American Monsoon: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12583/
Salt of the Earth: by NASA, https://images.nasa.gov/details/GSFC_20091012_Aquarius_m10504_Salt
Life Of Earth’s CO2: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11719/#media_group_339681
North American Monsoon: by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4474/
Life of the Monsoon: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12254/
Animation is created by Bright Side.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en
Stock materials (photos, footages and other):
https://www.depositphotos.com
https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Put on your woolen hats, find the warmest mittens, and go buy the thickest blankets.
00:07The next ice age might be just around the corner.
00:10And the trigger is much more shocking than anyone might have expected.
00:14What's even worse? We have no control over our bitterly cold future.
00:21Earth's climate has been on a wild ride for millions of years.
00:24It's been warming up, freezing over into ice ages, then heating up again to the more normal temperatures we know today.
00:32These cycles, called quaternary ice ages, are part of a much longer pattern of global freezing and thawing.
00:40For a long time, scientists thought Earth's orbit around the Sun had something to do with triggering ice ages.
00:46But figuring out exactly how was tricky.
00:49Well, new research has finally connected the dots.
00:52It shows how tiny changes in Earth's tilt, wobble, and orbit mess with the growth and melting of huge ice sheets.
01:02This is a pretty big deal, because it helps scientists understand not just what happened in the past,
01:07but also what might happen to our climate in the future.
01:12Even small shifts in how Earth moves through space can have huge effects over thousands of years.
01:17These changes control how much sunlight different parts of the planet get, which affects how ice sheets grow and shrink.
01:26Earth doesn't orbit the Sun in a perfect circle.
01:30It actually follows a slightly oval-shaped path.
01:33This phenomenon is called orbital eccentricity.
01:35Since the Sun isn't sitting right in the center of this oval, Earth's distance from it changes throughout the year.
01:43Plus, the oval itself slowly shifts position in space over time, which is called orbital precession.
01:50On top of that, Earth's tilt, a.k.a. obliquity, also changes slightly as our planet moves around the Sun.
02:00Scientists have known for a while that these orbital quirks impact our planet's climate, causing cycles of warming and cooling.
02:07As different parts of Earth's orbit shift, they change how sunlight is distributed across the planet, influencing seasons and ice ages.
02:16These Milankovitch cycles happen roughly every 20,000, 40,000, 100,000 and even 400,000 years.
02:26The difficult part is to figure out how each of these orbital changes affects climate shifts.
02:31Earth's climate is a complicated system, with tons of factors influencing it at the same time.
02:38Modeling all these processes is no easy task.
02:42It needs huge computing power and a deep understanding of each factor's role in shaping our planet's past and future climate.
02:50There are two cycles that are super close to each other in timing.
02:54precession, which happens every 21,000 years, and the second harmonic of obliquity, that happens at 20,500 years.
03:06But even though they're so close, no one has been able to directly connect either of these cycles to the end of an ice age.
03:12On top of that, for the past 800,000 years, ice ages have ended every 100,000 years, and scientists still haven't figured out what causes this pattern.
03:22To get to the bottom of it, researchers turned to the deep sea.
03:27They studied changes in oxygen isotope ratios found in the tiny fossilized shells of marine creatures.
03:34These tiny creatures live in the ocean, and their exoskeletons preserve clues about past climate, specifically changes in ice sheets.
03:44This allowed the researchers to track the beginning and end of ice ages over the past 800,000 years.
03:50By comparing the changes in the ice sheets with Earth's orbital changes, they found an incredible pattern.
03:58The key moments when Earth moved between ice ages and warmer periods were perfectly lined up with specific relationships between precession and obliquity.
04:06It turns out that the end of an ice age, called deglaciation, is closely linked to the way precession and obliquity aligned.
04:15But it's obliquity alone that seems to trigger the start of an ice age.
04:19This discovery is the key to understanding the 100,000-year cycle of ice ages.
04:26The researchers say it was always there, just waiting to be noticed.
04:31Before the discovery, people thought the timing of ice ages was more random.
04:35But this new study shows there's a clear, predictable pattern.
04:41This means we might actually be able to predict when ice ages will happen in the future.
04:47Right now, Earth's tilt is slowly decreasing, and in about 11,000 years, it'll hit its lowest point.
04:55Based on the team's calculation, the next ice age is expected to begin before then.
05:00At the same time, according to the latest reports, humans have already started pushing Earth's climate off its natural path by releasing greenhouse gases.
05:11Another thing scientists are warning about is a massive shift that's happening in the Atlantic Ocean, and it could drastically change the world's climate.
05:21The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is a system of ocean currents that moves warm and cold water around the planet.
05:29And right now, it is showing signs of weakening.
05:34What will happen if it collapses?
05:36Freezing temperatures in Europe, extreme weather across the world, shifting monsoons, and even an Amazon rainforest drying up.
05:45And the scariest part? Some researchers say there's a 95% chance this could happen before the end of the century.
05:53Think of the AMOC like a giant conveyor belt in the ocean.
05:57Warm, salty water from the tropics flows north towards Europe and North America.
06:03When it reaches colder areas, it cools down, becomes heavier, and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
06:09This deep, cold water then moves southward, while fresh, warm water from the equator keeps flowing north to replace it.
06:16This system helps regulate global temperatures, keeps Europe's winters mild, and prevents the US East Coast from flooding.
06:25It also controls monsoon patterns that bring seasonal rain to parts of Africa, South America, and Asia.
06:31Without it, the world's climate would look completely different.
06:36Right now, melting ice from Greenland and Antarctica, along with increased rainfall and river runoff, is dumping too much fresh water into the North Atlantic.
06:45Since fresh water is lighter than seawater, it disrupts the sinking process that keeps the AMOC moving.
06:54If too much fresh water builds up, it will mess up the entire system.
06:59And once it collapses, there will be no reversing it, even if the climate later cools down.
07:04Scientists have seen two big warning signs.
07:09First of all, the warming of the ocean off the US East Coast, which suggests the AMOC is already slowing down.
07:17Plus, there's a cold blob of water south of Greenland.
07:21It might be a sign of the weakening of the ocean current.
07:24And that's exactly what happens before the system fails.
07:29What would happen if the AMOC fully shut down?
07:32Europe would enter an ice age.
07:36The AMOC plays an important role in keeping Europe's winters relatively mild by bringing warm water north.
07:43If this process stopped, Europe would be plunged into deep winter.
07:48London's climate would drop by 18 degrees Fahrenheit, making it feel like northern Canada.
07:54Stockholm could get up to 54 degrees Fahrenheit colder, turning it into Siberia-like conditions.
08:00And snow and ice would cover much of northern Europe year-round.
08:06Next, monsoons would shift, leading to severe droughts.
08:11The AMOC helps regulate tropical rainfall, especially in Africa, South America, and Asia.
08:17If it collapsed, West Africa's monsoons would shift or disappear, leading to devastating droughts and a massive food crisis.
08:28The Amazon rainforest could dry up, transforming into a savannah or grassland.
08:33In India and Southeast Asia, monsoon rains would disappear, and millions of people rely on them for agriculture.
08:42The U.S. East Coast could see catastrophic flooding.
08:46With the AMOC weakening, water is already piling up along the U.S. East Coast, triggering higher sea levels and stronger hurricanes.
08:53If the system shut down, sea levels would rise by up to 3.2 feet, which would make the coastal cities more vulnerable to flooding.
09:03Finally, hurricanes and extreme storms could become even more powerful because of warmer waters along the coast.
09:10Now, how close are we to disaster?
09:15For thousands of years, the AMOC has remained stable, but recent studies suggest it's weaker now than at any point in the past 1,600 years.
09:25Ocean temperatures are hitting record highs, and many researchers believe we are dangerously close to the tipping point.
09:32A study published in Nature claims that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current pace, there's a 95% chance that the AMOC will collapse before 2100.
09:47That's it for today. So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:54Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side.
09:57The Bright Side.
09:58The Bright Side.