Aug 16
Climate Change Will Be A Lot More Explosive Than We Thought
A recent study uncovered something terrifying.
Climate change is terrifying. It is no wonder some people would prefer to live in ignorance rather than acknowledge the volatile nature of our survival here on Earth. But pretty soon, this self-made apocalypse's deadly, destructive, and planet-breaking effects will become evident. We already know about the catastrophic extreme weather, vast droughts, ranging wildfires, sea level rises, fatal heatwaves, collapsing ecosystems and social distress that climate change will cause. But a recent study has just added a whole new disastrous consequence of our climate crimes: more volcanic eruptions. So what is the mechanism at work here? And how will this affect our climate predictions from now on?
This study in the Bulletin of Volcanology looked at a vast amount of data relating to the quantity of rainfall on 1,200 volcanoes and how often they erupted. As volcanoes can take hundreds, if not thousands, of years between eruptions, this data wasn't gathered directly. Instead, the scientists looked at evidence of historical rainfall in sediments, allowing them to understand what was happening to these volcanoes from the present all the way back to 11,700 years ago. What they found was intriguing because the more it rained, the higher the chance these volcanoes erupted.
This may seem odd, as nothing as inconsequential as rain should matter to something as elemental and powerful as a volcano. But in reality, rainfall can profoundly impact these powerful geological structures in two ways: dome destabilisation and ground penetration.
Firstly, dome destabilisation. One of the things which keeps volcanoes from erupting is the weight and integrity of the sediments left on top of them from the previous eruption, also known as the dome. These volcanic ash sediments can lock together and put tremendous weight on the crater and surrounding structure, which has the effect of plugging the volcano, meaning it will take more force for magma to exit from the chambers and therefore make eruptions rarer.
But repeated terrestrial rainfall can erode away, break up, and destabilise these fine grain-like sediments. This not only reduces the amount of mass in this plug, but it also means that it will break apart with only a slight push. So more rainfall means a less effective plug, which makes eruptions happen more often.
But rainfall doesn't just hang around the surface. It also penetrates deep into the bedrock, and once down there, it can mess with the magma chamber of a volcano. Firstly, the cooling effect of the water can cause the magma to circulate quicker, which increases pressure on the volcano, making an eruption more likely. But the main force that causes magma to be ejected from a volcano is buoyancy, as it is far less dense than the surrounding rock. So, if the rock layers above a magma chamber are saturated with water, they will weigh far more and increase this buoyant force on the magma. Again, this will increase the likelihood of an eruption.
So more rain means that a volcano is less able to resist an eruption and increases the forces that cause eruptions, making them far more likely. But what has this got to do with climate change?
Well, the additional heat trapped in our atmosphere will turbocharge the water cycle. The higher temperatures will cause water to evaporate quicker, and the hotter air can hold more water vapour than cold air. This means that many regions of the Earth will likely experience far more rain than before, all thanks to climate change.
The scientists who conducted this study already knew this, so they checked their findings against predictions of future precipitation levels that take climate change into account. All in all, they predict that 700 of their studied volcanoes will see an increase in eruption rates due to climate change.
So we can add this to the roster of terrifying effects of climate change. As if failing crops, coastal flooding, and extreme weather weren't enough. Now we have to add constant volcanic eruptions in there too!
But this could have a much more significant impact than just being an extra danger to consider. When they erupt, volcanoes emit a vast amount of carbon dioxide, soot, and sulphur. The carbon dioxide will stay in the atmosphere indefinitely, adding to the greenhouse effect and heating up the planet. The sulphur and soot only remain in the atmosphere for a decade or so, but they block out the sun and cool the Earth down.
This means that our future prediction of the Earth's climate will have to take into account these volcanoes' more frequent eruptions and how they can cool the planet in the short term but heat it up in the long term. Otherwise, it could be far off. Now, sadly, I don't have the data or the simulations needed to calculate whether this means that these volcanoes could slow climate change or speed it up over the next hundred years, but either way, it is going to make our predictions more difficult.
I would love to end on a positive note. Something along the lines of "Don't worry, everything will turn out for the best!" But I just can't with this one. Volcanic eruptions are deadly, earth-shaking, and affect the people and ecosystems for hundreds of miles around them. The fact that these 700 volcanoes will soon become more explosive is terrible news. It just goes to show that we are still learning about all of climate change's effects, and we can't underestimate how hard the times ahead may be.
Home » Science » MIT Space Bubbles Would Fully Reverse Global Warming
MIT Space Bubbles Would Fully Reverse Global Warming
A team from MIT bubbles could be manufactured directly in outer space, forming an extensive deflective raft to reduce light from the sun. This would be geoeneringeering to fix climate change. The bubbles would be positioned at the Lagrangian Point between the Earth and the Sun.
At the labs at MIT, they have tested bubbles in outer space conditions that could be one of the most efficient thin-film structures for deflecting solar radiation.
This is building on the work of Roger Angel, who first proposed using thin reflective films in outer space, they produced an innovative solution that is easily deployable and fully reversible.
This Space-based solution would be safer. It would deflect 1.8% of incident solar radiation before it hits our planet. It would fully reverse today's global warming.
The bubble array would be made of inflatable shields of thin silicon or another suitable material.
Nextbigfuture has looked at several space projects that have proposed large bubbles in space.
In 2007 Devon Crowe of PSI corporation created a study for NASA Advanced Innovative conceps for making large space structures from bubbles that are made rigid using metals or UV curing.
A single bubble can be 10 meters in earth gravity, 1000 kilometer in low earth orbit or 10000 kilometers in deep space. Foams made of many bubbles could be far larger in size.
Nextbigfuture Believes the Best Climate Change Solutions are Moving Farming into Greenhouses and Growing More Trees
The Climate problem we have is about 750 billion tons of excess CO2 in the atmosphere. We have 417 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 versus 285 ppm in 1850 before the industrial revolution. 135 times 5.5 billion tons is 742 billion tons. We are also adding about 40 billion tons of CO2 per year from human activity.
China is planning to have over 2 million hectares of greenhouse buildings by 2025 with mechanized-automation of farming. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a guideline to promote the country's facility-based agricultural planting, outlining goals for infrastructure upgrades and mechanization to boost output and farmers' income. By 2025, China will maintain over 2 million hectares of facilities, including plastic greenhouses, and achieve above 50 percent mechanization for facility-based planting, a sector of the so-called controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), or protected agriculture.
The world already has about 500,000 hectares of climate-controlled greenhouses. China has 4 million hectares of crude plastic sheeting covering land in partially enclosed conditions. The plastic sheets lie over simple metal poles and crude framing.
The greenhouse tree solution can be combined with iron fertilization of the ocean. Putting a hundred tons of iron filings into the ocean will generate an algae bloom. The algae bloom can feed fish and then take a few to many million tons of CO2 to the bottom of the ocean.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
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