At this point, Earth will no longer be ideal for humans and most other oxygen-based life.
The Earth’s atmosphere is the layer of gas that surrounds planet Earth and is held by Earth’s gravity. It is composed of nitrogen (78% by volume) and oxygen (21%), with small amounts of argon (0.9%), carbon dioxide (range, approx.0.035%), vapor d water and several other gases.
Among the various constituents of the atmosphere, oxygen plays a huge role in the earth’s ecosystem, helping to make life thrive. However, this will not last forever. According to scientists’ forecasts, the atmosphere of the blue planet in the future will be filled with methane, while the oxygen content will become extremely meager.
According to calculations made by Chris Reinhard of Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) and environmental scientist Kazumi Ozaki of Toho University in Japan, the period during which the atmosphere is filled with gaseous oxygen can be 20 to 30 % of total. Earth’s “lifespan” in general.
While that probably won’t happen for around a billion years, when the change does happen, it will be pretty quick, the scientists said.
It is known that, to come to this conclusion, the researchers ran detailed models of the Earth’s biosphere, calculating the changes in the Sun’s brightness and the corresponding decrease in levels of CO2, which breaks down as heat levels rise.
Scientists had previously predicted that an increase in solar radiation would remove seawater from our planet within about 2 billion years. However, the new model – which is based on 400,000 simulations – shows that oxygen depletion will kill life.
Earth scientist Chris Reinhard of the Georgia Institute of Technology told New Scientist: “The oxygen drop is very, very severe.” We are talking about a million times less oxygen than today. “
At that point, Earth will no longer be an ideal habitat for humans and most other life depends on oxygen. So hopefully humans will find a way to settle on another planet in the next billion years.
The recently published research itself provides important information in the search for new human habitats. Specifically, the team of scientists behind the project insists that we don’t necessarily need to determine if oxygen is present in the atmosphere. Instead, we may need to look for biological structures other than oxygen for the best chance of detecting life.
