2023-10-01 07:31:47
Earth will become uninhabitable faster than expected. Temperatures will rise significantly until they no longer allow human existence.
Humans will not live on the planet forever, that is a certainty. Living conditions will deteriorate considerably over the coming centuries. An international search – detailed in a paper recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience – indicates when the Terre sera inhabitable.
The deterioration of living conditions on the planet does not only concern humans. Other mammals do not have the capacity to adapt either. On the other hand, the deterioration has accelerated, according to the authors of the study.
Earth uninhabitable because of the sun
Scientists report that climatic changes currently observed will make certain parts of the planet uninhabitable. However, they believe that initially, mammals will continue to live in certain parts of the globe, even in cases of extreme warming.
In the long term, the Earth will eventually become uninhabitable. This is because of the Sun. Like all stars, our star will continue to gain brightness. This significant increase in the intensity of solar radiation will occur for billions of years. A critical threshold will then be reached and will cause our planet to overheat.
Temperatures on the earth’s surface will be unbearable for mammals. At that time, all continents will merge into a single supercontinent.
Sharp increase in carbon dioxide levels
To arrive at these conclusions, the researchers used climate models. These made it possible to simulate the temperatures following the formation of a supercontinent in 250 million years.
Let us recall that the Pangea was the only supercontinent before its fracture to give the Gondwana and the Laurasia. There was also an extreme rise in temperatures during its formation regarding 175 million years before our time.
Coming back to the research predictions, the geological and geographical conditions of the newly formed supercontinent will lead to a very sharp increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This change will significantly promote the greenhouse effect and an increase in temperatures.
Only 8% of habitable space
The coasts of the new supercontinent will be very far from each other. There will be virtually no rain in the central area of the vast expanse of land. Overall, the research paper indicates that only 8% of the supercontinent will be habitable. These extreme conditions will accelerate the extinction of several species.
The Earth will thus be uninhabitable in 250 million years. Until now, scientists estimated that it would take billions of years to reach such climatic conditions. This amount of time seems like an eternity, but it needs to be put into perspective. Let us specify that the first mammals appeared on Earth, there are only 300 million years.
If the predictions come true, the period during which mammals flourished will represent only a fraction of the planet’s history. Let us recall that the latter has approximately 4.6 billion years.
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