New research indicates that in just half a century—from 1971 to 2020—humanity has posed a terrifying threat by retaining energy equivalent to 25 billion times that of the infamous Little Boy atomic bomb dropped by the United States, both on and within the Earth.
The study, published in Earth System Science Data, confirms the source of “25 billion atomic bombs”—which equates to a staggering 380 zettajoules—originates from global warming.
In an article in the scientific journal The Conversation, Australian climate scientists Andrew King from the University of Melbourne and Steven Sherwood from the University of New South Wales explained that this energy corresponds to 25 billion times the power of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb, which the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
The Earth is being “forced” to absorb energy equivalent to 25 billion atomic bombs created by humans—(Image: SHUTTERSTOCK/LIVE SCIENCE).
Moreover, the colossal amount of energy that our planet is forced to absorb accounts for only about 60% of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities, indicating that humanity’s destructive impact is even greater.
However, with this terrifying amount of energy being retained, the Earth should have warmed by several dozen degrees compared to pre-industrial times, rather than just 1.2 degrees Celsius. Therefore, researchers sought to identify what is attempting to “save” the planet.
The study reveals that 89% of this energy has been absorbed by the oceans, while the land has absorbed 6%. Another 4% has contributed to melting ice in cold regions, including snow, sea ice, freshwater ice, glaciers, ice shelves, and permafrost, leaving just 1% remaining in the atmosphere.
This remaining 1% is enough to cause the extreme heat we are witnessing on Earth.
The majority of the heat absorbed by the oceans is retained around 1 kilometer above the ocean surface. This temporarily saves humanity, but it also leads to significant increases in ocean surface temperatures, accelerates polar ice melting, devastates marine ecosystems, and generates increasingly severe tropical storms, not to mention disrupting ocean currents.
The authors emphasize that the oceans cannot protect the planet forever as there will come a day when they “overindulge”. The extent of the disasters humanity will face when pushing the Earth to that critical point is difficult to quantify.
These staggering figures once again highlight the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global warming—which is increasingly making the climate more severe and chaotic.
