(NewsNation) — Scientists predict that mammals may have only 250 million years left on Earth.
The new research from the University of Bristol suggests unprecedented heat is likely to lead to the next mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out.
The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, uses supercomputer climate models to map out the likely changes to Earth over the next hundreds of millions of years as the sun becomes hotter and emits more energy.
The model suggests the planet’s continents will eventually merge to create one massive hot, dry and largely uninhabitable supercontinent.
Dr. Alexander Farnsworth, the study’s lead author and senior research associate at the University of Bristol, said in a news release that the supercontinent would create a “triple whammy” comprising the changing geography, hotter sun and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
“Widespread temperatures of between 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, and even greater daily extremes, compounded by high levels of humidity would ultimately seal our fate,” Farnsworth said. “Humans — along with many other species — would expire due to their inability to shed this heat through sweat, cooling their bodies.”
The research notes that while human-induced climate change is likely to keep warming the planet, it should remain habitable until the seismic land change in the distant future. The model predicts that once the supercontinent forms, only 8% to 16% of land would be habitable for mammals.
The last time Earth had a supercontinent, known as Pangea, was from about 300-200 million years ago. When the next one — called Pangea Ultima — forms near the equator in about 250 million years, the tectonic plate shifts would lead to more frequent volcanic eruptions, releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air, trapping more heat, the researchers note.
As stars get older, they grow larger, brighter and emit more energy, and astronomers predict the sun may engulf the entire Earth in about 5 billion years. Before that happens, the increased heat it hurls at the Earth will become trapped in the atmosphere.
“The outlook in the distant future appears very bleak. Carbon dioxide levels could be double current levels. With the Sun also anticipated to emit about 2.5% more radiation and the supercontinent being located primarily in the hot, humid tropics, much of the planet could be facing temperatures of between 40 to 70 (degrees) Celsius,” Farnsworth said.
