New research shows that in just half a century – from 1971 to 2020 – humanity posed a terrible threat by retaining 25 billion times more energy than the haunting Little Boy atomic bomb. right on and in the Earth.
Research published in the Earth Systerm Science Data confirms that the source of “25 billion atomic bombs “ – a powerful energy source of 380 zettajoules – is global warming.
Explaining in an article in the scientific journal The Conversation , Australian climate scientists Andrew King from the University of Melbourne and Steven Sherwood from the University of New South Wales say the above energy is equivalent to 25 billion times ” Little Boy”. “, the atomic bomb that the US dropped on Japan’s Hiroshima in 1945.
The Earth is being “forced” to absorb energy equivalent to 25 billion man-made atomic bombs – (Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK/LIVE SCIENCE).
Not to mention, this huge energy that our planet is forced to absorb is only equivalent to about 60% of the greenhouse gas emissions that human activities cause, which means the destructive power of humanity is even higher. .
However, with this tremendous amount of energy trapped, the Earth should have risen tens of degrees above pre-industrial times, instead of just 1.2 degrees Celsius. So they went looking for what was trying. “save” the earth.
Research shows that 89% of this energy is absorbed by the ocean; while the soil absorbs 6%. Another 4% has been used to melt ice in cold layers including snow, sea ice, freshwater ice, glaciers, ice shelves, permafrost… and only 1% remains in the atmosphere.
This 1% is also enough for the Earth to be as hot as we see it.
Most of the heat absorbed by the sea is trapped about 1km above the ocean. It temporarily saves humanity , but causes a large increase in ocean surface heat, accelerates the melting of polar ice, destroys marine ecosystems and creates more and more intense tropical storms, not to mention breaking the ocean currents.
The authors emphasize that the oceans will not be able to protect the planet forever because the day will come when it will “overpopulate” . It is difficult to quantify the ferocity of the catastrophes that humanity will suffer when pushing the Earth to that tipping point.
The chilling numbers once again emphasize the urgency of limiting greenhouse gas emissions , preventing global warming – which is making the climate increasingly harsh and chaotic.