In response to EBD [ The answer that got spiked in this thread. http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/017589.

html ] // 15,000 years ago -- very recently, in geologic terms -- the whole of Canada was under several kilometres of ice. What, in your opinion, caused the massive warming that melted these colossal glaciers? // Changes in orbitally-conrolled insolation explain the long-term rhythm but not the extent, feedback increases in CO2 provide the another boost. [an increase in insolation of 2% is about equivalent to a doubling of CO2] From the last peak ice, 20 000BP, the rise in insolation [peaking about 11000 BP] along with rising green house gasses & decreasing albedo, did in most of the ice. The "end of the ice age" i.e. the start of the Holocene, is marked in an ice core as occurring precisely 11714 years ago. [summer heat has a much greater capacity for subtracting ice than winter has for adding, so summer variations are the key] But you don't want an opinion; read <a href="http://bprc.osu.edu/geo/publications/polyak_etal_seaice_QSR_10.pdf">this recent article</a> [especially "Quaternary Variations" 4.2 & "The Holocene" 4.3] Which is also discussed <a href="http://tamino.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/history-of-arctic-sea-ice-part-2/#more3263">here</a> The very large scale changes, for about the last 60 millions years have been determined by the movement of India [& its effects on atmospheric CO2] & for the past 50 million years has been generally a cooling era. The very recent changes, since insolation has been steady, are down to CO2. In other news, he German research vessel Polarstern is at the <a href="http://www.awi.de/en/infrastructure/ships/polarstern/where_is_polarstern/">North Pole</a>