If Global warming is caused by man, how did the ice age end? Why is Mars and other planets warming too?

Question

If Global warming is caused by man, how did the ice age end? Why is Mars and other planets warming too?

Answer 1

Earth is warming because of Al gore's hot air.

Other planets are warming as punishment from god for not having a savior like Al Gore.

Answer 2

Dana answered your question on the ice age and Mars, but I'd like to point out that the question contains the faulty logic that if this warming is caused by man, then all past warmings must have been caused by man.  No one has argued that.  

Past warmings do however occur at times not explained by the Milankovitch Cycles, and they were caused by CO2 emitted by massive volcanos over thousands of years... greenhouse gas warming just like what we've measured for 100+ years now.  We're simply doing the job a lot faster.

Studies link carbon dioxide and methane to past climate changes that have caused the extinction of over 95% of marine species at the time:

Climate Model Links Warmer Temperatures to Permian Extinction

http://www.physorg.com/news6003.html

"The CCSM indicated that ocean temperatures warmed significantly at higher latitudes because of rising atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The warmer temperatures reached a depth of about 10,000 feet (4,000 meters), interfering with the normal circulation process in which colder surface water descends, taking oxygen and nutrients deep into the ocean.

As a result, ocean waters became stratified with little oxygen, proving deadly to marine life. Because marine organisms were no longer removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, that, in turn, accelerated warming temperatures.

"The implication of our study is that elevated [carbon dioxide] is sufficient to lead to inhospitable conditions for marine life and excessively high temperatures over land would contribute to the demise of terrestrial life," the authors conclude.

We can see that this happened in the past due to elevated carbon levels.  All indications are that we're doing an effective job at accelerating the global climate towards that "dead zone" state at a record rate.

You do bring up an interesting point though about nearby planets as proof points.  If greenhouse gas warming did not warm planets, how would a skeptic explain Venus?

"It is interesting to note that in the absence of a greenhouse effect, the earth’s mean temperature would have been 255°K, instead of the observed value of 288°K. Greenhouse warming is thus about 33°K.  This is much more pronounced around the planet Venus, whose atmosphere contains over 90% carbon dioxide (CO2), a prominent greenhouse gas. Without a greenhouse effect the mean surface temperature of Venus would have been 227°K, but greenhouse warming raises it to 750°K. This represents warming by 523°K!"

http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/Mar1996/p...

That's with virtually no water vapor.  So much for the skeptical arguments; they contradict science.  Poorly.

Answer 3

Ice ages have started and ended due to the Milankovitch Cycles, which were amplified by various feedbacks (i.e. CO2).

According to these cycles, we should be in the middle of a cooling period right now.

"An often-cited 1980 study by Imbrie and Imbrie determined that 'Ignoring anthropogenic and other possible sources of variation acting at frequencies higher than one cycle per 19,000 years, this model predicts that the long-term cooling trend which began some 6,000 years ago will continue for the next 23,000 years.'"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitc...

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/ab...

Mars is warming for entirely different reasons than the Earth - namely dust storms darkening its surface:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

The few other planets that are warming are doing so for various reasons.  For example, they're entering their spring/summer seasons.  Of course, several other planets are also cooling, and most planets are experiencing no significant temperature change.

Of course, what you're suggesting is that because some planets are warming, that means our warming is due to the Sun.  But we don't have to look at other planets to determine this - we have satellites that have observed the Sun's output for about 30 years now.

Over the past 30 years, all solar effects on the global climate have been in the direction of (slight) cooling, not warming.  This is during a very rapid period of global warming.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/62902...

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/pro...

A recent study concluded:

“the range of  [Northern Hemisphere]-temperature reconstructions and natural forcing histories…constrain the natural contribution to 20th century warming to be <0.2°C [less than one-third of the total warming].  Anthropogenic forcing must account for the difference between a small natural temperature signal and the observed warming in the late 20th century.”

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/104...

You can see this in the third graph here, where the dotted lines are just from natural causes, and the full lines are natural + human causes:

http://www.pnas.org/content/vol104/issue...

If that’s not enough to convince you the Sun isn’t responsible, consider the fact that no scientific study has ever attributed more than one-third of the warming over the past 30 years to the Sun, and most attribute just 0-10% to the Sun.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 4

Ice age ending - Changes in solar radiation.  Google "Milankovic cycles".  How do we know it's not changes in solar radiation causing the present warming?  Simple, scientists measure the Sun.

"Recent oppositely directed trends in solar

climate forcings and the global mean surface

air temperature", Lockwood and Frolich (2007), Proc. R. Soc. A

doi:10.1098/rspa.2007.1880

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/pro...

News article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6290228.st...

Some of the other planets are warming, for different reasons.  Not all, as would happen if it was the Sun.  On Mars, it's giant dust storms.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/researc...

Bottom line (from FoxNews!):

"While evidence suggests fluctuations in solar activity can affect climate on Earth, and that it has done so in the past, the majority of climate scientists and astrophysicists agree that the sun is not to blame for the current and historically sudden uptick in global temperatures on Earth, which seems to be mostly a mess created by our own species."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2583...

EDIT - This was a good question, and answered respectfully.  

On the other hand, stating that global warming doesn't exist because it's cold in the winter in Minnesota IS ignorant.

Answer 5

The ice age ended because there were to many cave fires at the time .

Answer 6

I think the earth is turning on it's axis, thus causing the changes in the weather, etc.  I'm not saying all the pollution has absolutely nothing to do with it, but I think it has less to do with it than people think.

Answer 7

Despite the popular theory as to why earth is having global warming, there is another to consider.  It also explains why Mars and other planets are warming too.

The article is below, and it all has to do with the sun!

Answer 8

You have to give Mike S best answer cause that made me laugh!

Ice Age ended when man couldn't do anything about the warming... just like man couldn't do anything about the cooling when the Ice Age started...

Answer 9

well now you have gone and done it. Did you have to say that Mars is warming up? You realize that this means Al Gore will be the first man on Mars dont you?

Answer 10

Either it's the Sun, or it's Bush's fault.

Either way, Bob imply we're stupid and Dana1981 will imply we're ignorant.

-18F in MN today, when will global warming get here?

Answer 11

Back in the seventies they were warning us about global cooling!Anything to keep us scared and push uo our taxes!

Answer 12

The ice age came to an end because of mastodon p**p released carbon dioxide.

Answer 13

..Uhhh By man and woman both,,,,blame,blame,blame,,,,,Who cares,,,lets get some solutions out there...Lets just goto Mars and Tera form the planet and start over

Answer 14

it is NOT CAUSED by man. it is a natural process of the earth. man is just SPEEDING IT UP so it is happening faster than it normally would. that is why there are problems. the environment and animals dont know how to deal with the rapid change because the changes are occuring so suddenly.

Answer 15

not this bloody question again. the warming on mars is due to variations in its orbit. there has been very little change in solar output and it is actually  at the bottom of its 11 year cycle so it can not be causing this warming on mars.