5 ms·
I believe you are using the terminology incorrectly. According to Wikipedia, we currently are in an an ice age that began approximately 2.6 million years ago:
by cs702 5y ago
I believe you are using the terminology incorrectly. According to Wikipedia, we currently are in an an ice age that began approximately 2.6 million years ago:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_glaciation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_glaciation
Within this ice age, we've had glacial and inter-glacial periods. For example, Europe's "Little Ice Age" was a glacial period within this ice age:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
Currently, we're in an inter-glacial period.
- the_third_wave 5y agoCould be, I interpret "interglacial" literally, as being "between two ice ages". Were we in an actual ice age the same etymology would produce the term "intraglacial", a word I've never seen but that might be because written language was not yet a thing when there were people living in that circumstance.
- mullingitover 5y ago> Could be, I interpret "interglacial" literally, as being "between two ice ages" Pretty sure the literal interpretation of 'interglacial' is 'between glaciation.' Literal 'between two ice ages' would be 'inter-ice age.'
- shkkmo 5y agoThere is a conflict between the popular and scientific meaning of "ice age" that seems to be tripping the two of you up. If you are going to get into a semantic debate about related meanings, you should clarify the specific meaning you ate intending.
- the_third_wave 5y agoI don't think there is a need for any debate, it is after all clear what we mean: an ice age is the whole cycle (interglacial + glacial), glacial is the period of maximum ice coverage, interglacial is the period of minimum ice coverage. In the common vernacular "ice age" equals the glacial period.