Ice Age Impetus
     WE ARE LIVING IN THE ICE AGES. OH ITS NOT AS BAD AS A MILLION  YEARS AGO
WHEN GLACIERS CREPT AS FAR SOUTH AS NEW JERSEY,  BUT ITS STILL A LOT COLDER
TODAY THAN IT ONCE WAS.

     Stanley: "Before the ice age began the arctic region was rather warm. there was
no tundra. . . evergreen trees grew up to the margins of the arctic. . .the winters were
very mild o h in new york or virginia"

     STEVEN STANLEY IS A PALEONTOLOGIST AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY AND
AUTHOR OF THE BOOK  "CHILDREN OF THE ICE AGE."  HE THINKS THE ICE AGE BEGAN
WHEN THE LAND THAT IS NOW PANAMA ROSE OUT OF THE SEA TO CONNECT NORTH AND
SOUTH AMERICA. 

     Stanley: "the atlantic and the pacific oceans became separated from each other
for the first time.  it's not like the uplift of the himalaya mountains or the rocky mountsin
but the impact . . . was quite remarkable."

     IN FACT, HE SAYS, IT PRODUCED FREEZING TEMPERATURES IN THE ARCTIC THAT
TRIGGERED THE ICE AGE.  PANAMA BLOCKS THE ATLANTIC AND THE PACIFIC FROM
MINGLING AS MUCH AS THEY ONCE DID.   THAT IN TURN MEANS THAT THE  WATER IN THE
OCEANS ISN'T AS SIMILAR AS IT ONCE WAS--MOST NOTICABLY THE ATLANTIC IS MUCH
SALTIER THAN THE OTHER OCEANS.  SALTIER ALSO MEANS HEAVIER, SO WHEN WARM
WATER FROM THE ATLANTIC SWEEPS NORTH WITH THE GULF STREAM, IT SINKS BEFORE IT
GETS ALL THE WAY TO THE ARCTIC.   DEPRIVED OF THAT WARM WATER, THE ARCTIC STAYS
AT BITTER COLD TEMPERATURES--WHICH IN TURN KEEPS THE WHOLE EARTH COOLED
DOWN.   

     Stanley: "The implications are kind of mindboggling.  . . the uplift of this skinny little
neck of land between the americas. . . sant a large variety of oceanographic and
clmate changes cascading around the world."