If all the carbon stored in fossil fuels was once in the atmosphere, should the planet then have been too warm to sustain life?
In: Planetary Science
Specific to your question the atmospheric Carbon Dioxide levels were much much higher around 500 million years ago. During this era temperatures likely average between 2 and 46 degrees C which is a moderately warmer than now.
Yet there’s evidence that temperatures could have soared as high as 80C consistently in some areas.
The Sun was also dimmer in this time and so the Earth received less energy overall so Earth relied more on green houses gases than now.
During this era there was no life on land, life was only in the oceans. The oceans were more moderate in temperature and provided important protection against radiation as there was no Ozone layer.
During the Jurassic (200 to 145 million years ago) the Earth was 5-10C hotter than now and more humid. Life flourished but the planet was very different to what we know now.
You have to keep in mind that the carbon in fossil fuels wasn’t removed from the atmosphere all at once, it was captured by plants over millions of years.
During this time oxygen created by algae built up in the atmosphere and reacted with methane destroying it and reducing the greenhouse gases rapidly. This resulted in Snowball Earth where the Earth was frozen over entirely for millions of years.
CO2 and Oxygen eventually reached a new equilibrium which melted the ice and allowed for the Cambrian explosion, the first major evolution of plant and animal life as we know it today.
We are burning millions of years worth of natural carbon capture in the span of a few decades. That’s why it’s having such a drastic effect.
Latest Answers