We are living in one of the coldest periods in all of Earth’s history.
This figure shows more than 4 billion years’ temperature data as adapted from Scotese (2002) and reveals that the Earth is now in one of the coldest periods in its history. No geological period has been as cold as our current geologic period, the Quaternary, for at least 250 million years. Temperature variations of more than 10°C (18°F) in either direction have been common.
Viewed in the context of millions of years of Earth history, our recent increase of 0.8°C (1.4°F) appears minuscule. It barely registers as a blip on the chart.
