A tiny bit.
The last ice age maximum cooling ended about 12,000 years ago, and the warming from that ended about 6,000 years ago. Since Antarctic glaciers and sometimes the Greenland glaciers have been diminishing ever since the Ice Age. In analogy with an ice chest almost out of ice, this can slightly accelerate recent warming. Additionally the water being added by the melting glaciers is likely a factor in the recent stratification of the oceans (where lower colder water is not getting to the surface).
Current studies indicate that changes in CO2 levels have most often lagged the start and end of ice ages. Some think that the CO2 amplified the swings, others that it is a symptom of them. However, none of these CO2 changes were caused by humans. All scientists agree that the ice ages were initiated by changes in the earth’s orbit and inclination1, and also ended by these, or by geothermal events.
- Milankovitch’s explanations of how changes in the earth’s orbit around the sun, its tilt, and its precession (top like motion) cause ice ages and their opposite are now accepted by everyone, though there are some tweaks still to be made. Global temperatures have remained within a small range for thousands of years until recently warming.
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