Earth Regulates Its Own Temperatures Through A Stabilising Mechanism, Study Finds

Would you believe us if we told you that just like its creatures, Earth too regulates its own body in ways we cannot completely comprehend? A new study claims that Earth is able to regulate its own temperature over millennia.

Published by MIT researchers in Science Advances, the study confirms that Earth has a "stabilising feedback mechanism" that works over hundreds of thousands of years to stabilise the climate before it goes completely out of hand.

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Keeping Earth inhabitable

Essentially, Earth is able to keep global temperatures within habitable ranges via mechanisms of its own. Don't get your hopes up, though - the damage inflicted by humans on Earth's well-being is irreversible and already pronounced in the forms of disasters across the globe; requiring the kind of immediate attention this mechanism might not be able to offer.

Regardless, how does Earth regulate its own temperature? A process called "silicate weathering" might be behind this mechanism. Within this geological process, the gradual weathering of silicate rocks triggers chemical reactions that suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, luring it into ocean sediments, trapping the gas in rocks.

Also read: What Does Earth Look Like From Moon During A Lunar Eclipse?

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There was no direct evidence of this feedback until now. The team of scientists analysed changes in average global temperatures over the last 66 million years, applying a mathematical analysis to find evidence of a stabilising phenomenon at play.

They found evidence of a pattern wherein Earth's temperature extremities are eased out over hundreds of thousands of years - the same timescale of silicate weathering. This would explain how the Earth has managed to sustain life even through dramatic shifts in its climate conditions and multiple mass extinction events.

Also read: Rare Pink Aurora Spotted In Earth's Night Skies After A Solar Storm

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"On the one hand, it's good because we know that today's global warming will eventually be canceled out through this stabilizing feedback," said Constantin Arnscheidt, a graduate student from MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). "But on the other hand, it will take hundreds of thousands of years to happen, so not fast enough to solve our present-day issues," Arnscheidt added.

The team's data reveals that the stabilising mechanism was able to prevent extreme fluctuations in temperature on Earth over a timescale of hundreds of thousands of years.

What do you think about the powers that make Earth so special? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Arnscheidt, C. W., & Rothman, D. H. (2022). Presence or absence of stabilizing Earth system feedbacks on different time scales. Science Advances, 8(46). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adc9241

Chu, J. (2022, November 16). Earth can regulate its own temperature over millennia, new study finds. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-earth-temperature-millennia.html