Climate Disasters at the Dawn of Mankind and their Long-Term Consequences

Abstract

Using an astronomical model of insolation of the polar day and polar night zones of the Earth, the influence of cosmic factors on the ice conditions in them is estimated. It is shown that the temperature increase in the Northern Hemisphere began about 20 000 years ago due to volcanic events that occurred at that time, as well as in connection with the presence of a surplus of solar energy in this area of the planet, caused by the parameters of the Earth’s orbit: the inclination of the rotation axis, eccentricity, and precession angle. The surplus of thermal energy in the Northern Hemisphere has been preserved since then until the present day and will continue for at least 3000 years, after which the next period of glaciation will begin. Similar data are given for the Southern Hemisphere. It is shown that the melting of northern glaciers has been spread over many millennia due to the high heat of ice fusion and a pronounced phase transition. During melting, thermal energy is spent on the destruction of the ice crystal lattice, and the melt temperature does not increase. During freezing, the reverse process occurs: the energy released during ice crystallization prevents the temperature from decreasing. This process also occurs at a constant temperature. The heat-stabilizing properties of ice have manifested themselves in the form of “temperature shelves” on the graphs of the dependence of the average annual temperature on time, constructed based on the results of the analysis of ice cores obtained in the Southern Hemisphere at the Vostok station and in the Northern Hemisphere in central Greenland. At present, ice reserves in the Northern Hemisphere are coming to an end. Accordingly, the ability of glaciers to stabilize temperature is decreasing. As a result, the frequency and power of natural disasters in the world is growing. The problem of preserving the existing climate is becoming urgent. There is less and less time left for preparing and implementing measures to counteract climate change. Decarbonization cannot resist the ongoing process of destruction of the unique mechanism of natural climate stabilization. It is necessary to look for other ways to solve the problem of preserving the current climate. Among them, on the one hand, various methods of increasing albedo can be considered, and on the other hand, methods of reducing the permeability of the atmosphere by spraying special chemicals with short periods of complete decomposition in the upper layers of the atmosphere over certain areas.