Hothouse Earth

A “Greenhouse Earth” or a “Hothouse Earth” is a period in which there will be no continental glacier left on the planet which will raise the levels of carbon dioxide and other gases like water vapor and methane. The temperatures of sea surface will rise which will directly raise the temperatures on the land as well. Raising temperatures is something that we are already dealing with every passing year.

We the inhabitants of the blue planet need to take immediate measures to reverse the affect of fossil fuels that is pushing the Earth towards a dangerous “hothouse” state. It is estimated that the Earth will reach its tipping point when the Earth warms to 3.6 Fahrenheit (2Celsius) over pre Industrial state. It won’t be long before we reach the tipping point as the Earth has already warmed 1C over pre Industrial times and has been heating up at the rate of 0.17C per decade.

The heat that will result in melting all the polar ice caps will result in oceans engulfing all the coastal cities, the elimination of coral reefs and will leave vast areas of the Earth uninhabitable.

Though the Earth goes through its own natural process of heating and cooling period however, indiscriminate tempering with the planet’s feedback loop, we have knocked the natural cycle off its course. This continuous heating of the Earth due to unabated use of fossil fuels will not just cause the polar ice to melt but the Forest, oceans and permafrost that store carbons will weaken and these will further emit greenhouse gases in the atmosphere further aggravating the already rising temperatures.

By: Madhuchanda Saxena

Content: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-earth-hothouse-state.html