It is common, scientific knowledge that the earth has gone through many metamorphic changes, the Ice Age, warm periods, and arguably the Anthropocene. With all of these changes came mass extinctions, yet life still pushed on. Our beautiful planet of blue and green never fails to endure, but why?
Scientists have speculated on there being some sort of planetary thermostat that keeps the changing climate in check. A new study published provides the first-evidence of its existence.
A mechanism called the "weathering thermostat" seems to be preventing the climate from going too out of whack. What happens is that carbon dioxide traps heat, keeping out atmosphere cozy, yet too much or too little can cause and ice age or sizzling hell. Earth seems to be regulating the greenhouse gasses through weathering.
What happens is that the earth is putting atmospheric carbon dioxide in rainwater so it combines with rocks to form bicarbonate. This makes its way to the ocean through rivers where it will finally combine with calcium to form limestone, effectively locking carbon dioxide up. When the earth is hot this process speeds up, cooling the planet quicker, but the cold temperatures slow this down so our planet refrains from getting too chilly.
While it is not the only influence on our global climate (there is solar activity and vegetation as well), but it just goes to show how resilient our planet is in survival. Human interjection with the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas is transforming the climate on a new scale, but there are movements in place in hopes of being able to harness this process.
Original Article by Jeremy Deaton found here: https://www.popsci.com/earths-climate-regulates-itself
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