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Researchers say they know when the next ice age will come. Wikipedia says: "An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets, and alpine glaciers." The researchers are from Cardiff University in the UK. They predicted that the next ice age should arrive in 10,000 years from now. However, the scientists believe it could be delayed because of human activity. A member of the research team said climate change could delay the next ice age. She said global warming could make it "very unlikely" that the next freeze will arrive on time.
The scientists said melting glaciers in the North and South Poles will push back the next ice age. Lead researcher Professor Stephen Barker studied what caused past ice ages to happen. His team looked at nearly one million years of climate data. They found that there was a relationship between changes in the Earth's axis, global temperatures, and the size of Antarctica and the Arctic. When the amount of ice on the continental ice sheets was stable, ice ages happened at regular intervals. However, Professor Barker said less ice means a longer gap between ice ages. He added: "Earth's climate is an interconnected system of complex processes, all acting together to produce the changes we observe."
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