Ice Age

[Rist]

If we was in an Ice Age, everything cold and snowy, what would the sky look like? Would it be blue during the day? What about if it was cloudy, would the suns rays that hit those clouds make them look different?

Just a general scientific question, does anyone have logical theories?

[Craig D]

Look at pics from the Arctic, antarctic etc.
Yes, the sky is still blue etc.
The colour of the sky is from atmospheric properties. Cloud
colour can be changed by ground colour and would consequently be different
with a whiter, more reflective surface below.

[Rist]

Are you sure the same effect would occur? With drastic climate change it may not be like the Arctic. Doesn't the Arctic have a colourful sky. Does this happen all the time or at specific times of the day/year? I know, I should read up on this myself; but I thought I could be something to discuss.

Here are a few images, one with an overcast day and several night shots.

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/arctic_basin/images/field_photos/bruce_jeremy.jpg

http://www.riesto.no/bilder/nordlys3.jpg

http://www.riesto.no/bilder/nordlys2.jpg

[Craig D]

Rist
that "colourfull sky" is the Northern lights ( or southern)
The aurora borealis occur sporadically and are triggered by solar storms or something like that. Nothing to do with ice etc.
Look it up on Wiki to get some details.

[corky13]

Aurora Borealis is something that , as Craig D said , depends on solar storms and the magnetic field of the earth (or to be more precise = the energetic particles of the sun crashing into the thinner "layers" of earths magnetic field close to the polar regions)

[Jabo]

I was always convinced that "The Thing" should be shown in schools all around the world for educational reasons :P

Ice age probably be a mix of arctic/antarctic colors and alpine colors, because it would probably not be completely frozen, but some pinetrees and other tough plants would survive.

Another thing to look at is the 3dMark06 benchmark. The latest benchmark has a level called "Deep Freeze" (again, inspired by The Thing) that pretty much nails down what I love about arctic environments. I think no other environment can get brighter than this. The snow is so bright that it reflects on everything around it, thus making for some really decent indirect illumination.

[Serpian]

Aurora Borealis is, also, freaking awesome.

qIXs6Sh0DKs

[Rist]

Sorry now I recall the effect is caused by solar activity; I guess I was grabbing at thin air to try and think of an appearance for the sky in the ice age. With so much white everywhere it must be a very bright place to be and also the clouds would be paler, maybe even fully white unless it is a full overcast, then it would have a grey tint. Would the sun appear any different? Paler too?

The main reason for bringing this up is I am doing a piece that portrays a scene within the ice age and would like to add features that it is just that and not an Arctic environment. Other than ice age only features, I thought about dead trees, trees like pine that still live but are struggling; and then the desolate scenery.

[Jabo]

Well, while I feel quite old at some days, I'm not old enough to tell you what Ice Age looked like. But if we go on and pollute more of earth, we have a slight chance to see what it looks like in the beginning, maybe by 2100...

I think what was depicted in "The Day After Tomorrow" is what I think Ice Age looked/looks/will look like. Remember that an Ice Age in our time will be triggered by a massive increase of world temperature, which, in combination with smog, will lead to an increase of the greenhouse effect, which will then trigger the ice on the poles to melt and cool down the oceans so that it will be freezing cold. I think in the beginning, there will be lots of clouds, keeping heat in, but as soon as the deep freeze is ON, there probably won't be any clouds at all, due to the lack of humidity in the air. I'm speculating, of course, but I figure that it won't even snow a lot after the majority of precipitation has come down in the beginning of the Ice Age.

Interesting theme, I'm all in for stuff regarding aeons of time :D

EDIT: The Wikipedia entry about Ice Age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age) will give you some nice pointers as well. Ice Age is actually referred to as a period of time when the glacial ice and continental "ice sheets" are increasing in size. So it's not about snow and actually quite close to the antarctic. I think the sun will be smaller, but brighter than here, as seen in pictures of the arctic/antarctic. At least from a design viewpoint, this should get the feeling across quite well.