A brief outline of climate thru the ages. Part 2

What follows is my current scenario. An outline of how I think the situation has panned out over the millennia. This is based on reasoning from the biblical descriptions and scientific observations I have read. These are not my ideas nor do I offer anything original, it is what I think most likely.

The land was predominantly a single continent at creation. There may have been massive lakes, significant water courses, the presence of fixed and floating islands. Various ecosystems existed based on location such as latitude, altitude and proximity to the coast. Mountains (if they existed) would not have been nearly as high as they are currently. I do not think there was rain before the Fall and I think a strong case can be made for the lack of rain before the Flood.

The Flood brought massive geological change. The continents as they now appear are a result of breaking up either during the Flood or some time following. Sedimentary rocks and fossils they contain are diluvian phenomena. Mountain ranges are a result of this break up and they are much higher than previous ranges.

The release of water from the fountains of the deep was likely associated with significant heat and thus the waters would have been comparatively warmer. This would have led to significant evaporation. Water would have been released from the air in the form of rain and snow, but especially in areas where the air was significantly cooler (as it can hold less water), that is, at the poles where there was less sunlight warming, especially during the respective winters. Massive snow falls over the years would have led to accumulating ice, and cooler poles which may have intensified precipitation of water previously evaporated from the warmer equatorial seas. This process would have slowed as the equatorial seas cooled. The beginning of the ice-age would not be immediately following the Flood as time was needed for animals to migrate and populate various regions. That these animals were trapped in ice in such enormous numbers suggests a reasonably quick progression of the ice-age during at least part of its expansion.

Some current estimates of the ice-age have it commencing within a few centuries of the Flood and reaching a peak over ~2 centuries with an initial melt-back to near current levels over ~5 centuries^*.

The initial postdiluvian climate was not in a state of equilibrium. The process of the waters cooling led to the ice-age. It is uncertain whether significant polar ice-caps would have formed had the water not been warm. Polar ice-caps are now present (due to the ice-age) and it is not certain whether they represent a potential equilibrium, or whether they will disappear over time. In other words, given our current global landscape, solar irradiation, and other climatic inputs, the earth may have more than one equilibrium state depending on initial conditions: with or without polar icecaps.

Wikipedia

The decline of the ice-age represents an approach to equilibrium. Warm periods in recent centuries, compared to current, suggest we are probably at or close to equilibrium. If we are at equilibrium then there will be variations based on significant external inputs such as solar activity. If we are approaching equilibrium then a (damped) decay curve may model the climate. Either way, the current climate (with its variation) is probably typical.

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^*Due to difficulties estimating variables for mathematical modelling, and establishing the models, I think that documentary evidence will be helpful in delineating this timeframe.

A brief outline of climate thru the ages. Part 1

Having a right view of biblical history should affect one's thinking in many areas. When we consider climate there are several scriptural and historical data to take into account: the state at creation, the effect of the Fall, the massive changes occurring at the Flood, and reasonable inferences concerning the epochs following, such as the ice age and medieval warm period.

Climate would be affected by the state of creation such as

• The presence or absence of ice at the poles (including land at the poles)
• The distribution of land including the possibility of a single land mass (Gen 1:9)
• The presence, distribution and height of mountains
• The initial temperature and global variation of temperature
• Atmospheric conditions favouring cloud formation
• Atmospheric gas concentration (possibly including carbon dioxide levels)

In Eden there was no rain initially,

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—(Gen 2:5-6). 

There is debate over whether the word 'ed (אד) means mist or spring (see also Job 36:27). Either way, there was no rain at this time. Rain could have first appeared,

• After creation but before the Fall
• After the Fall but before the Flood
• At the time of the Flood

A possibility may be that the world had a more even temperature with a high water vapour content. Minor cooling (including overnight) would lead to mist and dew formation. If rain occurred shortly following creation or after the Fall (which shortly followed creation) it may have been predominantly warm showers.

The time of the Flood led to a massive outpouring of rain and volcanic-like release of water over 40 days leading to massive global flooding for several months followed by drainage of the land. This is the cause of most of the sedimentary rock that is present across most of the earth.

Antarctica sans ice (Wikipedia).

The ice-age logically is a postdiluvian phenomenon. The Flood markedly altered antediluvian geology and would have destroyed evidence of prior ice-ages. There is documentary evidence for the ice-age as well as geographic features that suggest a much greater extent of current glaciers: glacial valleys, fiords, lower sea levels. The presence of frozen animals suggests that the initial stages of the ice-age were comparatively rapid. The lesser extent of ice in the present day shows the regression of the previous ice-age and (probably) an increasingly warmer global climate.

The medieval warm period followed by cooler periods suggests that the climate has either stabilised since the end of the ice-age with natural variation (predominantly solar), or possibly that we are still warming post-ice-age in a damped oscillating pattern.