250 million years from now, Earth will have only a single supercontinent, so hot and lacking in food that mammals cannot survive.
The Earth has existed for about 4.5 billion years and changed a lot during that time. From a ball of molten and churning magma, the Earth gradually cooled and developed small tectonic plates. A few billion years later, the planet was adorned with supercontinent structures and began to teem with life.
But the Earth is still young, cosmically speaking. The blue planet has only gone through more than 1/3 of its life cycle and will still change a lot in the future. However, it seems that humans will not be able to survive for long as conditions change, IFL Science reported on May 22.
In research published in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team from the University of Bristol used supercomputers to model the climate 250 million years into the future. At that time, the world will once again have only a single supercontinent and it will be almost impossible for mammals to survive.
“The outlook for the far future looks very gloomy. The amount of CO2 could be twice as high as today. The Sun is expected to emit about 2.5% more radiation and the supercontinent is mainly located in the hot tropics Most of the Earth may face temperatures of 40 – 70 degrees Celsius,” the research team explained.
The new supercontinent named Pangea Ultima, reminiscent of the ancient supercontinent Pangea that existed about 320 – 195 million years ago, will suffer a “triple disaster”. First, there is about 50% more CO2 in the atmosphere than there is today. Second, the Sun will also be hotter than it is today – something that happens to all stars as they age. Third, the very size of the supercontinent would also make it almost uninhabitable. The cause stems from the continental effect – which makes coastal areas cooler and wetter than inland, and makes summer and winter temperatures in Lawrence much more extreme than in Baltimore.
The result is a very inhospitable environment, lacking food and water sources for mammals. The common temperature is about 40 – 50 degrees Celsius, even the daily extreme heat is greater, and the humidity is also very high. Humans and many other animals will die because they cannot reduce heat through sweating and cool the body.
Notably, this is still not the worst situation. “We think CO2 concentrations could increase from about 400 ppm today to more than 600 ppm in the next many million years. That’s the level assuming humans will stop burning fossil fuels, otherwise we will face This level is much earlier,” explains Benjamin Mills, professor of Earth System Evolution at the University of Leeds, a member of the research team.
So, while the study points to a gloomy outlook for Earth 250 million years from now, the research team warns that we should not forget the problems that lie ahead. “It is extremely important not to lose sight of the current climate crisis, which is the result of human emissions of greenhouse gases. We are experiencing extreme heat that is harmful to our health. Here’s why “Why is it important to reach net zero emissions as soon as possible,” said Eunice Lo, a researcher on climate change and health at the University of Bristol and co-author of the study.