The Ice Age Cometh
by Jayant Narlikar
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In this science-fiction story, the astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar imagines a future in which the tropical city of Bombay is struck by an unprecedented cold wave and heavy snowfall, dropping the temperature to zero and collapsing the railways. The journalist Rajiv Shah recalls a bet he made ten years earlier with the brilliant scientist Professor Vasant Chitnis, who had gravely predicted a minor Ice Age within ten years due to a catastrophic drop in ocean temperatures, a bet Rajiv has now lost. Vasant explains the science: as the ocean's thin warm layers thin further, cooling seas fail to heat the atmosphere, forming 'diamond dust' (microscopic ice particles) that shields the earth from solar heat in a runaway freeze, worsened by volcanic ash. The scientific establishment, which he likens to the Popes and Cardinals of the Middle Ages, had ridiculed his theory. As cities freeze under five metres of snow and India's capital shifts from Delhi to Bombay, Vasant launches 'Project: Invasion of Indra', firing rockets from equatorial pads to bombard the atmosphere with heat-absorbing metallic particles that melt the diamond dust. The project succeeds, but Vasant warns of catastrophic floods to come and notes that the Ice Age has already killed over half of humanity.
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Jayant Narlikar is a world-renowned Indian astrophysicist and science-fiction writer. This story describes a sudden, futuristic Ice Age that brings snowfall to the tropical city of Bombay (Mumbai).
The unexpected snowfall in Bombay
The story is set in a future era where Bombay is struck by an unprecedented cold wave and heavy snowfall. Rajiv Shah's children, Pramod and Kavita, look out of their window in disbelief at a white carpet of snow stretching between the houses. The temperature dips to zero degrees, and the entire transport system of the Central and Western Railways collapses.
The bet of ten years ago
Rajiv Shah, a journalist, recalls a bet he made ten years earlier with Professor Vasant Chitnis, a brilliant scientist. They had met at a party in Washington D.C., where Vasant gravely predicted that a minor Ice Age would arrive within ten years due to a catastrophic drop in ocean temperatures. Rajiv had bet ten dollars against the prediction, and has now lost.
The science of the Ice Age
Rajiv meets Vasant to understand his theory. Vasant explains that the ocean's upper, warm layers are remarkably thin and have been thinning rapidly. When the ocean water cools, it fails to supply adequate heat to the atmosphere, leading to the formation of 'diamond dust', microscopic ice particles that scatter and shield the earth from solar heat, creating a rapid cooling spiral toward an Ice Age. Volcanic eruptions such as Vesuvius inject ash and dust into the sky, narrowing nature's safety margin and accelerating the freeze.
Vasant laments that when he first proposed his theory, the scientific establishment, the 'scientific top brass', whom he compares to the Popes and Cardinals of the Middle Ages, ridiculed and suppressed his research.
Project: Invasion of Indra
As the Ice Age sets in, burying major cities of the northern hemisphere, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, under five metres of snow, humans panic and India's national capital is shifted from Delhi to Bombay. Vasant and international scientists launch 'Project: Invasion of Indra' from equatorial launch pads such as Thumba, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Kenya, firing rockets to bombard the atmosphere with metallic particles that absorb solar heat and convey it down, successfully melting the diamond dust.
The project succeeds and the ice begins to melt. However, Vasant warns that the war is far from over: the melting snow will cause massive, destructive floods, and the Ice Age has already slashed the global human population to less than half its original size.