Adding to your comments: I heard that the Arctic ocean is predicted to become ice-free in 80 years time. Already pack-ice there has lost 40% of thickness it had in former times, and this is leading to problems for the polar bear population apparantly.

It has been said that when the Arctic ocean is clear water, free of its ice-cover; winds blowing over it colect more moisture. Unusually heavy snowfall develops over northern Russia, Europe, and Canada as a result. A feedback effect of more snow-cover, more solar-reflection, further snow-build-up might occur till an ice-age is triggered and the Arctic freezes again.

Similar scenario to what you say about the clouds.

Re: Noah's flood: I thought that had been traced to a geological event involving the dissapearance of a land barrier that separated two seas, leading to massive flooding as one sea was higher than the other (one was the Medditeranean I think). Just vaguely recall some geological evidence had been tracked of a great flood in that part of the world).

A science fiction story might suppose an asteroid hits an Earth Ocean; 2-mile-high tsunami flood much of the Earth. An even bigger Asteroid might lead to a Spacecraft Ark being built and launched. Or maybe Adam and Eve were refugees from Mars when it dried, or from Venus when it got a run-away green-house effect. Doesn't seem plausible though.

-dolphin