Glacial period

A time with no glaciers on Earth is considered a greenhouse climate state.

[2][3][4] Within the Quaternary, which started about 2.6 million years before present, there have been a number of glacials and interglacials.

[1] The glaciations that occurred during the glacial period covered many areas of the Northern Hemisphere and have different names, depending on their geographic distributions: Wisconsin (in North America), Devensian (in Great Britain), Midlandian (in Ireland), Würm (in the Alps), Weichsel (in northern Central Europe), Dali (in East China), Beiye (in North China), Taibai (in Shaanxi) Luoji Shan (in southwest Sichuan), Zagunao (in northwest Sichuan), Tianchi (in the Tian Shan) Jomolungma (in the Himalayas), and Llanquihue (in Chile).

Work by Berger and Loutre suggests that the current warm climate may last another 50,000 years.

[9] The amount of heat trapping (greenhouse) gases being emitted into the Earth's oceans and its atmosphere may delay the next glacial period by an additional 50,000 years.

Glacial and interglacial cycles as represented by atmospheric CO 2 , measured from ice core samples going back 800,000 years. The stage names are part of the North American and the European Alpine subdivisions. The correlation between both subdivisions is tentative.