Carbon Dioxide Rich Atmosphere Present in Ancient Ice Age

Research by the University of Birmingham has provided evidence that a warm atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide was present in an ancient ice age. This could only have happened if the planet was nearly all covered in ice and snow. Scientists from the University's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, say that, whereas today, we associate more greenhouse gases with a warm world, in a very severe ice age, even plenty of greenhouse gas cannot stop the world being covered in reflective ice and snow. This type of glaciation could occur again in the future if the Earth's atmosphere reflected too much solar radiation - this process could be triggered by a nuclear war creating a dusty mantle around the Earth. The same applies if we were not careful with a suggested technological fix for global warming and launched tiny particles (aerosols) of sulphate into the atmosphere. Such aerosols arise both from industrial pollution and from volcanic activity, and even in trace quantities are known to cause cooling. Ian Fairchild, lead investigator, says, 'We came up with an independent test of a theory that the Earth, like a baked Alaska pudding, was once hot on the outside, surrounding a cold, icy surface.