Editing Ice age (section)

===Negative===
Ice sheets that form during glaciations erode the land beneath them. This can reduce the land area above sea level and thus diminish the amount of space on which ice sheets can form. This mitigates the albedo feedback, as does the rise in sea level that accompanies the reduced area of ice sheets, since open ocean has a lower albedo than land.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Huddart|first1=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_64G6cYuz3AC&q=%22lowering+in+sea+level+that+accompanies+the+formation+of+ice+sheets%22&pg=PT1624|title=Earth Environments: Past, Present and Future|last2=Stott|first2=Tim A.|date=2013-04-16|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-68812-0|language=en}}</ref>

Another negative feedback mechanism is the increased aridity occurring with glacial maxima, which reduces the precipitation available to maintain glaciation. The glacial retreat induced by this or any other process can be amplified by similar [[inverse positive feedback]]s as for glacial advances.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/glacialgeologyic00benn_0|url-access=registration|quote=Another factor is the increased aridity occurring with glacial maxima, which reduces the precipitation available to maintain glaciation. The glacial retreat induced by this or any other process can be amplified by similar inverse positive feedbacks as for glacial advances.|title=Glacial Geology: Ice Sheets and Landforms|last1=Bennett|first1=Matthew M.|last2=Glasser|first2=Neil F.|date=2010-03-29|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-0-470-51690-4|language=en}}</ref>

According to research published in ''[[Nature Geoscience]]'', human emissions of [[carbon dioxide|carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>)]] will defer the next glacial period. Researchers used data on Earth's orbit to find the historical warm interglacial period that looks most like the current one and from this have predicted that the next glacial period would usually begin within 1,500 years. They go on to predict that emissions have been so high that it will not.<ref>{{cite news|last=Black|first=Richard|title=Carbon emissions 'will defer Ice Age'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16439807|work=BBC News|access-date=10 August 2012|date=9 January 2012|archive-date=18 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818115004/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16439807|url-status=live}}</ref>