
Potential Climate Feedbacks That Could Trigger a New Ice Age
A new study uncovers a feedback mechanism in Earth's carbon cycle that could cause global warming to overshoot and trigger an ice age, suggesting Earth's climate system can overreact and potentially plunge the planet into deep freeze, especially under past conditions of low atmospheric oxygen. However, current higher oxygen levels may dampen this effect, but the risk remains if warming continues. The findings highlight the importance of limiting ongoing climate change.



