Scientists predict that supercontinent Pangea Ultima will form in around 250 million years and will breed terribly hot climate conditions that could put mammalian life at risk.
Supercontinent Pangea Ultima
This was suggested in a new study led by University of Bristol researchers. Generally, the authors posit that this will bring doom to every milk-producing and warmblooded creature.
At present, specialists know very little about how the climate of the Earth gets impacted when continents unite to form a huge mass of land. The last supercontinent, Pangea, took place around 310 million years ago. It is well-familiar to the scientific community.
The researchers proceeded to use the Pangea as a case study. The team, involving specialists from the UK, US, Switzerland, and China, tried to predict the climate of the Earth during the next supercontinent formation.
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Uninhabitable Living Conditions
Climatologist Alexander Farnsworth from the University of Bristol, who is also the new study's lead author, expresses that the Earth will not be fun to live in by then. Based on their estimations, the planet will become terribly hot when the continents merge with each other to form a supercontinent. This will lead to the mass inhabitability of the land and widespread extinction of mammals.
The findings suggest that things could turn unbearably hot due to such an event. The Sun will be emitting roughly 2.5 more solar radiation. More than that, the supercontinent's formation will also gravely impact the climate system of the planet. There is a possibility that huge landmass will end up drying out and that more carbon dioxide would enter the atmosphere.
In the first Pangea that took place millions of years ago, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere went from roughly 200 parts per million to 2,100 ppm. This led to extreme temperature levels that are around 10 degrees Celsius higher compared to the worldwide mean today.
There is a possibility that if carbon dioxide in the atmosphere goes beyond 560 ppm again for just a century, it may result in mass extinction that is as devastating as the Big 5.
According to models, this may happen during the formation of the Pangea Ultima. The researchers also modeled the worst case scenario. They predicted that the supercontinent formation could lead to a warm month that has a mean temperature of 46.5 degrees Celsius.
The researchers explain that at carbon dioxide levels of 280 ppm, the majority of the tropics become uninhabitable. If it reaches 1,120 ppm, this would extend to high and mid latitudes. At the 1,120 ppm mark, models posit that less than 8% of the supercontinent Pangea Ultima will keep supporting mammal life. By this time, there will be only a few high-latitude areas of refuge left.
While nocturnal rodents and specialized migratory mammals may have a chance of survival, even those that migrate from habitat to habitat will have to face extreme conditions as deserts filling continents could form throughout the supercontinent. Because of this, travel may become quite impractical.
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