Number of words: 124

It is also fairly obvious that an increase in the number of small comets could cause clouds to form about 50 miles up, reflecting sunlight and cooling the earth. Comet storms could create a global ice cloud and may have been responsible for the ice ages. The last one known as the little ice age was a reign of cold that began in the 13th century and reached its severest temperatures around 1750. Scientists are still not sure what caused the little ice age but it came as a result of a decline in global temperatures that averaged about one degree. Even small changes in the earth’s climate can have profound environmental effects.

Excerpted from page 61 of ‘The Big Splash’ by Louis Frank