The World
of Ice Ages
It all starts with 3300 meters of ice.
Poster List*
– N° 1 Last glacial maximum 21 thousand years ago
– N° 2 2.1% of Earth‘s water is stored in ice caps and glaciers
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At the height of the last glacial period, Canada was covered with ice that could reach a maximum height of 3300 metres. This massive ice sheet covered Canada as well as areas in Europe and Russia all the way to Alaska. Everything above the Arctic Circle would have been uninhabitable, as Antarctica is today. Life would only have been possible at the edges of these huge ice sheets. Areas that are open to wild life above the Arctic Circle today would have been inaccessible to animals and plants. All in all, the huge land masses we live on today at much higher latitudes would not have been possible.
Poster N° 1
Last glacial maximum 21 thousand years ago
After the last ice ended, the Earth's ice caps retreated as far as Antarctica and Greenland, causing sea levels to rise by 120 metres. The retreating ice sheets also caused the Canadian land mass to rise as the weight of all the ice melted. Today, about 2.1% of the Earth's water is stored in ice caps and glaciers. 91 % of all ice is in Antarctica, the rest in Greenland. This leaves only about 1 % for glaciers around the world.
Poster N° 2
2.1% of Earth‘s water is stored in ice caps and glaciers