Dec 1, 2025 07:34 PM
Antarctica's Southern Ocean might be gearing up for a thermal 'burp' that could last a century
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth...-a-century
EXCERPT: Under climate change, the Southern Ocean has been storing warmth which, like your morning jolt, can't stay there forever, and will someday return to the atmosphere. New modeling suggests that this "burp" of heat — the scientists called it that, by the way — could be abrupt.
In a scenario where humanity eventually reduces its greenhouse gas emissions and then goes "net negative," finding ways to remove those planet-warming pollutants from the atmosphere, global temperatures fall. But suddenly the Southern Ocean belches its accumulated heat, leading to a rate of planetary warming similar to what humanity is causing right now. And the thermal burping would continue for at least a century... (MORE - missing details)
56 million years ago, the Earth suddenly heated up – and many plants stopped working properly
https://theconversation.com/56-million-y...rly-270291
EXCERPTS: Around 56 million years ago, Earth suddenly got much hotter. Over about 5,000 years, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere drastically increased and global temperatures shot up by some 6°C.
As we show in new research published in Nature Communications, one consequence was that many of the world’s plants could no longer thrive. As a result, they soaked up less carbon from the atmosphere, which may have contributed to another interesting thing about this prehistoric planetary heatwave: it lasted more than 100,000 years.
Today Earth is warming around ten times faster than it did 56 million years ago, which may make it even harder for modern plants to adapt.
[...] The vegetation disruption during the PETM may have reduced terrestrial carbon sequestration for 70,000-100,000 years due to the reduced ability of vegetation and soils to capture and store carbon.
Our research suggests vegetation that is more able to regulate the climate took a long time to regrow, and this contributed to the length of the warming event.
Global warming of more than 4°C exceeded mid-latitude vegetation’s ability to adapt during the PETM. Human-made warming is occurring ten times faster, further limiting the time for adaptation.
What happened on Earth 56 million years ago highlights the need to understand biological systems’ capacity to keep pace with rapid climate changes and maintain efficient carbon sequestration. (MORE - missing details)
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth...-a-century
EXCERPT: Under climate change, the Southern Ocean has been storing warmth which, like your morning jolt, can't stay there forever, and will someday return to the atmosphere. New modeling suggests that this "burp" of heat — the scientists called it that, by the way — could be abrupt.
In a scenario where humanity eventually reduces its greenhouse gas emissions and then goes "net negative," finding ways to remove those planet-warming pollutants from the atmosphere, global temperatures fall. But suddenly the Southern Ocean belches its accumulated heat, leading to a rate of planetary warming similar to what humanity is causing right now. And the thermal burping would continue for at least a century... (MORE - missing details)
56 million years ago, the Earth suddenly heated up – and many plants stopped working properly
https://theconversation.com/56-million-y...rly-270291
EXCERPTS: Around 56 million years ago, Earth suddenly got much hotter. Over about 5,000 years, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere drastically increased and global temperatures shot up by some 6°C.
As we show in new research published in Nature Communications, one consequence was that many of the world’s plants could no longer thrive. As a result, they soaked up less carbon from the atmosphere, which may have contributed to another interesting thing about this prehistoric planetary heatwave: it lasted more than 100,000 years.
Today Earth is warming around ten times faster than it did 56 million years ago, which may make it even harder for modern plants to adapt.
[...] The vegetation disruption during the PETM may have reduced terrestrial carbon sequestration for 70,000-100,000 years due to the reduced ability of vegetation and soils to capture and store carbon.
Our research suggests vegetation that is more able to regulate the climate took a long time to regrow, and this contributed to the length of the warming event.
Global warming of more than 4°C exceeded mid-latitude vegetation’s ability to adapt during the PETM. Human-made warming is occurring ten times faster, further limiting the time for adaptation.
What happened on Earth 56 million years ago highlights the need to understand biological systems’ capacity to keep pace with rapid climate changes and maintain efficient carbon sequestration. (MORE - missing details)