The researchers recently discovered a natural “super-terrmostate” of the Earth that could correct global warming, speeding up the next glacial age.
Planet Earth Photo: Shutterstock
The study, published in Science magazine, shows that the Earth could have a natural climatic self -regulation mechanism much faster and more efficient than it was believed. The scientists called him the “super-termination” of the planet, able to reduce the excess of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and restore their climatic balance-even if, in the short term, people continue to warm the planet, writes Mediafax.
The planet heals itself but life will pay the price
“The earth could react to the huge quantities of CO₂ that we pump into the atmosphere by an excessive correction of the imbalance”Professor Andy Ridgwell revealed from the University of California, Riverside, quoted by LiveScience.
This reaction could make the next glacial era arrive exactly “In time, instead of being delayed by tens of thousands of years ”he adds. In time for the planet, but too early for human civilization.
The newly discovered mechanism is related to the phosphorus cycle and the burial of organic carbon on the bottom of the ocean. In a warmer world, rains wash more phosphorus from the ground, which reaches the ocean and stimulates the growth of phytoplankton-microscopic organisms that absorb CO₂ through photosynthesis. When they die, they sink and “bury ” Organic carbon in marine sediments, blocking it for hundreds of thousands of years, an almost instinctive strategy of the planet, as if the Earth would activate its own survival program when it is in danger.
Self -regulation can be taken to extreme
“The warmer the world becomes, the more productive oceans and more carbon it is stored, which cools the climate.”explained scientists – geologists, climatologists, geochimists and biogeochemical modeling who collaborated in the global model of the carbon cycle.
But this process could go too far: the planet can correct the thermal imbalance in excess, triggering an accentuated cooling-possibly even extreme episodes of the type of snow-bull, when the entire planet was covered by ice.
Corrections take place on a geological scale
The study co -author, Dominik Hülse, mathematician and biogeochemical model at the University of Bremen, warns, howeverThis does not mean that we will be safe compared to global warming in the next 100 or even 1,000 years ”he said.
In the long term, however, “Super-TermaTat” The planet could compensate for the natural postponement of the next glacial era, previously estimated at tens of thousands of years. “No matter how big the delay is … this mechanism will bring the moment closer.”indicated the Californian geologist. In other words, the earth could once press their cooling button alone.
