Global cooling and the consequences?

We are a rock hurtling through space, bound by gravity to our nearest star, just like many other bodies in our solar system be it gas, liquid or solid. Yet we remain so warm when everything appears so cold.

So what gives?

How and why does our planet remain "warm" when our moon and mars are frozen solid?

Think about it, even if the surface of a planet (atmosphere) survived without any direct interaction with the planet's mass, you still have billions of years the planet surface has been stable while the actual planet was cooling over time... So stable in fact we have life, lots of it. In fact possibly billions of years of life on this rock alone. Goldie locks zone?

Then we have the cooling, gosh darn the cooling

Everything is cooling or running out of energy, unless you have something with loads of energy that you can suck said energy off you're basically getting colder and colder, good old Sol works but remember. Mars is pretty cold isn't it? So with that said, How quick can a planet get cold?


We've maintained optimal temperature for so long which is a miracle in itself, how quick could that all be taken away from us?

Are you ready for an ice age?

a reply to: RAY1990
Research the last mini ice age . I think it was about 26000 years ago. All of NA was under 2 feet of ice down to Houston Texas.
Which , before temps had risen. Then volcanoes increased the CO2 which actually cooled the earth (as is stated : almost overnight)(of course this comes from biologists , geologists and not climatologists)
Peace.

originally posted by: Gothmog
a reply to: RAY1990
Research the last mini ice age . I think it was about 26000 years ago. All of NA was under 2 feet of ice down to Houston Texas.
Which , before temps had risen. Then volcanoes increased the CO2 which actually cooled the earth (as is stated : almost overnight)(of course this comes from biologists , geologists and not climatologists)
Peace.

Of which is my point exactly, despite the cataclysmic changes the Earth has suffered on it's surface we've maintained a relative constant temperature. 26000 years or 13000, it doesn't matter the extremes in temperature difference on the surface, they are fleeting, they come and go. The surface has little to do with continent formation which is a by-product of us having a warm planet as geologists would have us know. Point being, the stability of a planet in terms of warmth.

A critical point of cooling must exist, how close is the Earth to becoming cold?

Although some are preparing, the Earth will be a total different place. I do not think we can ever be ready for changes on this scale no matter to which side we move. On a cyclic basis we are ready for a “Ice-age” but our short term cycles only shows a cooling for the next 30 years or so. We do however not understand the long term cycles and can speculate as mush as we want. The changes in our atmosphere are rapid, not seen for some million of years but also not done by the humans alone. With the Sun quieting down and more cosmic radiation reaching Earth we will experience more volcanoes and earthquakes, which we can see happening. It does point to some transition period in the happening.

a reply to: ICycle2

I honestly don't have a clue how quick a rock in space can cool but science tells me they can stay warm for a while depending of course on many factors. When it comes to staying safe we've been told a few degrees either way would effect us drastically, if the core of our planet started to freeze we'd be looking at differences in temperature far exceeding our "extremes".

At a guess I'd say the only way you'd survive is by having a good stock of "radiant" energy, actually we've had a few transitional periods in our past already and the best we can do is try to figure which way the needle is pointing in a barn full of hay.

If the planet was to cool though it shouldn't just spontaneously heat up. It would most likely be the end of life.