When Will the Present Interglacial End?

Abstract

We are now living under interglacial climatic conditions, the Present Interglacial or Flandrian Interglacial Age. It will certainly be followed by the Future Ice Age. The major cold/warm changes seem to have a cyclicity of 10,500 yr. We have been in the second cycle (characterized by cooler climate) after the Last Ice Age for 2200 yr and will continue to be so for another 8300 yr. By analogy with the conditions during the Last Interglacial it is concluded that this cycle will remain moderately warm. With the end of the third cycle at about 18,800 years AP, the Present Interglacial will end and the First Future Glacial Age begin. Further information about the climatic conditions during the “cold” cycle 117,700–107,200 y. a. is necessary, however, before a really well-founded prediction can be made.