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Daria Bedenko. Sputnik International
https://sputniknews.com/science/202103101082298206-new-study-reveals-when-earth-will-run-out-of-oxygen/
Oxygen is an essential element that is commonly accepted as a possible indicator of life on exoplanets. However, the oxygenated atmosphere of the Earth that makes it habitable may not be permanent.
A new study published in Nature Geoscience reveals that all of the Earth’s oxygen can disappear in the next billion years, which can lead to the death of all animals and plants on the planet.
According to the findings, the lifespan of the Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere is estimated at a billion years. However, the fundamental time scale of oxygen in our planet’s atmosphere remains uncertain.
“For many years, the life of the Earth’s biosphere has been discussed based on scientific knowledge about the constant illumination of the sun and the global geochemical cycle of silicate and carbonate,” said researcher Kazumi Ozaki. assistant professor at Toho University.
The scientists behind the study believe that deoxygenation is “an inevitable consequence” of increased solar fluxes as the Sun gets older and emits more heat.
“The atmosphere after the great deoxygenation is characterized by high methane levels, low CO2 levels and no ozone layer. The Earth’s system is likely to be a world of anaerobic life forms,” Ozaki said, referring to to how creatures that need oxygen to survive will believe. not being able to inhabit the planet.
The findings are based on a model of the evolution of the Earth’s atmosphere that was constructed using a stochastic approach, which allowed the team to make a probabilistic assessment of the life of our oxygenated atmosphere.
The model was run more than 400,000 times with various parameters suggesting that oxygen on Earth may only have to pass a billion years before solar radiation destroys it.
Because the research was conducted as part of NASA’s NexSS program that explores the habitability of exoplanets, the team explained that it may be useful for scientists to consider additional biosignatures applicable to weakly oxygenated and anoxic worlds in the world. search for life beyond the solar system.